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TWELVE YEARS 



SOLDIER'S LIFE IN INDIA. 



If a soldier, 
Cliase brave employments with a naked sword 
Throughout the world. Fool not; for all may have, 
If they dare try, a glorious life or grave. 

Geoege Herbert. 



JAY BENSON HAMILTON. D. D. 
Editor, Bible Champion. 

TWELVE YEAES 



SOLDIER'S LIFE IN INDIA: 



BEING EXTEACTS FEOM THE LETTERS 



OF THE LATE 

MAJOR w. s: r: hodson, b. a. 

TRINITT COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE; 
FIRST BENGAL EUROPEAN FUSILEERS, COMMANDANT OF HODSON'S HORSE. 



INCLUDING 

A PERSONAL NARRATIVE OF THE SIEGE OF DELHI 
AND CAPTURE OF THE KING AND PRINCES. 



EDITED BY HIS BROTHER, 

THE EEV. GEORGE H. HODSON, M. A. 

SENIOR FELLOW OF TRINITY COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE. 



FKOM THE THIRD AND ENLARGED ENGLISH EDITION. 



BOSTON: 
TICKNOR AND FIELDS. 

M DCCC LX. 






EIVERSIDE, cambridqe: 

STEKEOTTPED AND PRINTED BY 
H. 0. HOUGHTON AND COMPANY. 



American (Jniversffy 



r7 



[The following paper, by the author of " Tom Brown's 
School Days at Rugby," appeared in '' Eraser's Maga- 
zine : " — ] 

The heart of England has not, within thi' memory of living 
men, been so deejjly moved as by the Indian rebellion of 1857. 
It was a time of real agony, — the waiting, week after week, 
for those scanty despatches, which, when they came, and lay 
before us in the morning papers, with huge capitals at the top 
of the column, we scarcely dared take up, we could not read 
without a strong effort of the will. What it must have been 
to those of us whose sisters, brothers, sons, were then in the 
Northwest Provinces, they alone can tell ; but of the rest we 
do believe there was scarce a man who did not every now 
and then feel a cold sinking of heart, a sense of shame at his 
inabihty to help, a longing to make some sacrifice of money, 
ease, or what not, whereby to lift, if it might be, a portion of 
the dead weight fi'om off his own soul. By degrees came the 
light. As the trial had been, so had been the strength. The 
white squall was past; and though that great and terrible 
deluge still heaved and tossed, we began to catch sight of 
one and another brave ship riding it out. Oiir pulses beat 
quick and our eyes dimmed as we heard and read how the 
little band of our kindred had turned to bay, in tale after tale 
of heroic daring and self-sacrificing and saintly endurance 
and martyrdom. The traces here and there of weakness and 
indecision only brought out more clearly the soundness and 
strength of the race which was on its trial ; and from amongst 
the thousands who were nobly doing their duty, one man after 
another stood out and drew to himself the praise, the grati- 



6 HODSON OF HODSON'S HORSE. 

tude, and the love of tlie whole nation. In all her long and 
stern history, England can point to no nobler sons than these, 
the heroes of India in 1857. Thank God, many of them are- left 
to us ; but the contest was for the life itself, the full price had 
to be paid, and one after another the heroes paid it. Some 
fell, full of years and honors, whom the mutiny found with 
names already famous ; others in their glorious mid-day 
strength ; others fresh from England, in the first daring years 
of early youth ; of all ranks and professions, — generals, gov- 
ernors, cadets, missionaries, civilians, private soldiers ; but 
each heard the call and obeyed it faithfully, loving not his own 
life ; and we believe that even in this hurrying, bewildering, 
forgetful age, England and Englishmen wiU not let the name 
of one of them die. 

At any rate, there is little chance that the subject of this 
paper will be forgotten by his countrymen, for not only has he 
carved out with his sword a name for himself which knows 
few equals even in Indian story, but he has left materials which 
have enabled his brother to put together one of the best biog- 
raphies in our language. 

Twelve Years of a Soldier's Life in India is the history of 
the career of Hodson of Hodson's Horse, the captor of the 
King of Delhi, compiled from private letters written to differ- 
ent members of his family. 

To the book itself, as a literary work, high praise may be 
awarded. There are four pages only which we could wish 
omitted; we mean those (from p. 354 to p. 358) which con- 
tain the extracts from newspapers. Able leading article 
writers and special correspondents, who as soon as the firing 
is over, bustle up to battle-fields where their country's noblest 
are dying, and sit down to catch the tale of every claqueur, 
and spin the whole into thrilling periods, doubtless have their 
use, and their productions are highly valued, — or, at any rate, 
are highly paid for, — by the British public. The extracts in 
question are favorable specimens, on the whole, of such com- 
modities. But Hodson has no need of them, and they jar on 
one's soul at the end of such a book. With this exception. 



SCHOOL DAYS AT RUGBY. 7 

the book is a model of its kind. There is not a word too 
much of the letters ; in fact, we long for more of them, while 
confessing that no additional number could bring the man or 
his career more livingly before us ; and the editor has, with 
rare tact, given us just what was needed of supplementary- 
narrative, and no more, and has shown himself a high-minded 
gentleman and Christian by his forbearance in suppressing the 
names of the men who enviously and wickedly persecuted his 
brother. In a charming little preface he compares that brother 
to Fernando Perez, the hero of the later Spanish ballads, and 
then seems to doubt whether affection may not have biassed 
his judgment. We think we may reassure him on this point. 
The career of the Indian Captain of Irregulars may fairly 
challenge comparison with that of Fernando Perez or any 
other hero of romance, and we may well apply to the English- 
man, lying in the death chamber at Lucknow, the poet's touch- 
ing farewell to the peerless knight Durandarte, stretched on 
the bloody sward at Roncesvalles, — 

' Kind in manners, fair in favor. 
Mild in temper, fierce in fight; 
Warrior nobler, gentler, braver. 
Never shall behold the light." 

But it is time for us to turn from the book to the man, and 
we think our readers will thank us for giving them the best 
picture which our space will allow of him and his work, as 
nearly as may be in his own words ; only begging them to 
bear in mind that these letters were written in the strictest 
confidence to his nearest relations, and that so far from wish- 
ing to make his own deeds known during his life, he resolutely 
refused to allow his letters to be made public. 

William Stephen Raikes Hodson, third son of the Arch- 
deacon of Stafford, was born in March, 1821, and went, when 
fourteen years old, to Rugby, where he stayed for more than 
four years, two of which were spent in the sixth form under 
Arnold. At school he was a bright, pleasant boy, fond of fun, 
and with abilities decidedly above the averEige, but of no very 



8 CHOOSING A PEOFESSION. 

marked distinction, except as a runner ; in which exercise, 
however, he was ahnost unequalled, and showed great powers 
of endurance. None of his old schoolfellows have been sur- 
prised to hear of his success as the head of the Intelligence 
Department of an army, or of his marvellous marches and 
appearances in impossible places as Captain of Irregular 
Horse. Such performances only carry us back to first calling 
over, when we used to see him come in splashed and hot, and 
to hear his cheery " Old fellow ! I've been to Biinklow since 
dinner." But, as a boy, he was not remarkable for physical 
strength or courage, and none of us would have foretold that 
he would become one of the most daring and successful swords- 
men in the Indian army. We only mention the fact, because 
it is of great importance that the truth in this matter, which 
the lives of Hodson and others have established, should be as 
widely acknowledged as possible. A man born without any 
natural defect can, in this as in other respects, make his own 
character ; no man need be a coward who will not be one ; 
and a high purpose steadfastly kept in view will, in the end, 
help a man to the doing of nobler deeds of daring than any 
amount of natural combativeness. 

From Rugby he went to Trinity, Cambridge, where he took 
his degree in 1844 ; but, fortunately for, his country, and (let 
us own it, hard as it is as yet to do so) for himself also, a con- 
stitutional tendency to headache led him to choose the army 
rather than a learned profession. After a short service in the 
Guernsey militia, which he entered to escape superannuation, 
he got a cadetship, and embarked for India. Sir William 
Napier, then Governor of Guernsey, gave him a letter to his 
brother. Sir Charles, and himself wrote of him, " I think he 
will be an acquisition to any service. His education, his abil- 
ity, his zeal to make himself acquainted with military matters, 
gave me the greatest satisfaction during his service with the 
militia." His brother's letter never was presented to Sir 
Charles Napier, as we infer from the passage at p. 156, where 
it is mentioned again, " I didn't show him his brother's letter," 
writes Plodson in 1850, " that he might judge for himself first, 



FIRST ENGAGEMENTS IN INDIA. 9 

and know me ' per se,' or rather ' per me.' I will, however, 
if ever I see him again." He never saw Sir Charles again ; 
but what a glimpse of the man's character we get from these 
few lines. 

On the 13th of September, 1845, Hodson landed in India, 
and Avent up country at once to Agra. Here he found the 
Hon. James Thomason, Lieutenant-Governor of the North- 
west Provinces, a family friend and connection, with whom he 
stayed till November 2d, when he was appointed to do duty 
with the 2d Grenadiers, and began his military career as 
part of the escort of the Governor-General, who was on his 
way to the Punjab. In that quarter a black cloud ha.I gath- 
ered, which it was high time should be looked after. 

Hodson, however, marches on, all unconscious, and his first 
letters give no hint of coming battle, but contain a charmingly 
graphic description of the life of an Indian army on march. 
Here, too, in the very outset, we find that rare virtue of mak- 
ing the best of everything peeping out, which so strongly 
characterized him. 

" It is a sudden change of temperature, truly, — from near freezing 
at starting, to 90° or 100" at arriving. It sounds hot, but a tent at 84° 
is toleraWy endurable, especially if there is a breeze." 

At Umbala, he attends a grand muster of troops, and sees 
the Irregulars for the first time. 

" The quiet-looking and English-dressed Hindoo troopers strangely 
contrasted with the wild Ii-regulars in all the fanciful Mwuniformity of 
their native costume: yet these last are the men /fancy for service." 

This was on the 2d of December. On Christmas-day he 
writes : — 

" I have be<2n in four general engagements of the most formidable 
kind ever known in India. On the 10th, on our usual quiet march we 
were surprised by being joined by an additional regiment, and by an 
order for all uou-soldiers to return to Umbala." 

Then comes the description of forced marches, and battles 
which one feels were won, — and that was all. The same 
story everywhere as to the Sepoys ; at Moodkee, 
1 * 



10 FIGHT AT MOODKEE AND SOBEAON. 

" Our Sepoys could not be got to face the tremendous fire of the 
Sikh artillery, and as usual, the more they quailed the more the Eng- 
lish officers exposed themselves in vain efforts to bring them on. . . . 
At Ferozeshah on the evening of the 21st, as we rushed towards the 
guns in the most dense dust and smoke, and under an unprecedented 
fire of grape, our Sepoys again gave way and broke. It was a fear- 
ful crisis, but the bravery of the English regiments saved us. A ball 
struck my leg below the knee, but happily spared the bone. I was 
also knocked down twice, — once by a shell bursting so close to me as 
to kill the men behind me, and once by the explosion of a magazine. 
The wound in my leg is nothing, as you may judge when I tell you 
that I was on foot or horseback the whole of the two following da3's. . . 
No efforts could bring the Sepoys forward, or half the loss might 
have been spared, had they rushed on with the bayonet. . . Just as 
we were going into action, 1 stumbled on poor Carey, whom you may 
remember to have heard of at Price's at Rugby. Ongoing over the 
field on the 30th, I found the body actually cut to pieces by the keen 
swords of the Sikhs, and but for his clothes could not have recognized 
him. I had him carried into camp for burial, poor fellow, extremely 
shocked at the sudden termination of our renewed acquaintance. . . I 
enjoyed all, and entered into it with gi-eat zest, till we came to actual 
blows, or rather, I am {71ml)) half ashamed to saj^, till the blows wei-e 
over, and I saw the horrible scenes which ensue on war. I have had 
quite enough of such sights now, and hope it may not be my lot to be 
exposed to them again. . . We are resting comfortably in our tents, 
and had a turkey for our Christmas dinner." (pp. 11, 12, 13, 14.) 

In the next letter the fight at Sobraon is described : — 

" On we went as usual in the teeth of a dreadful fire of guns and 
musketry, and after a desperate struggle we got within their triple 
and quadruple intrenchments ; and then their day of reckoning came 
indeed. Driven from trench to trench, and surrounded on all sides, 
they retired, fighting most bravely, to the river, into which they were 
driven peUmell, a tremendous fire of musketry pouring on them from 
our bank, and the Horse Artillery finishing their destruction with 
grape. I had the pleasure myself of spiking two guns which were 
turned on us." 

A rough baptism of war, this, for a young soldier ! No 
wonder that when the excitement is over, for the moment he 
thinks he " has- had enough of such sights." But the poetry 
of battle has entered into him, witness this glorious sketch of 
a deed done by the 80th Queen's (Staffordshire). 



OPINION OF SEPOY REGIMENTS. 11 

" I lay between them and my present regiment (1st E. B. Fusiliers) 
on the night of the 21st of December, at Ferozeshah, when Lord 
Hardinge called out ' 80tli! that gun must be silenced.' They 
jumped up, fonned into line, and advanced through the black dark- 
ness silently and firmly; gradually we lost the sound of their tread, 
and anxiously listened for the slightest intimation of their progress ; 
— all was still for five minutes, while they gradually gained the front 
of the battery whose fire had caused us so much loss. Suddenly 
we heard a dropping fire, — a blaze of the Sikh cannon followed, 
then a thrilling cheer from the 80tli, accompanied by a rattling and 
murderous volley as they sprang upon the battery and spiked the 
monster gun. In a few more minutes they moved back quietly, and 
lay down as before on the cold sand'; but they had left fortj^-five of 
their number and two captains to mark the scene of their exploit by 
their graves." 

And so in another month, when the war is over and the 
army on its return, he " catches himself wishing and asking for 
more." 

"Is it not marvellous, as if one had not had a surfeit of killing? 
But the truth is that is not the motive, but a sort of undefined ambi- 
tion. . . I remember bursting into tears in sheer rage in the midst of 
the fight at Sobraon at seeing our soldiers lying killed and wounded." 

His first campaign is over, and he goes into cantonments. 
The chief impression left on his mind is extreme disappoint- 
ment with the state of the Sepoy regiments, which he ex- 
presses to Mr. Thomason : — 

" In discipline and subordination they seem to be lamentably de- 
ficient, especially towards the native commissioned and non-commis- 
sioned ofiicers. On the march, I have found these last give ine more 
trouble than the men even. My brother officers saj' that I see an 
unfavorable specimen in the 2d, as regai'ds discipline, owing to their 
frequent service of late, and the number of recruits; but I fear the 
evil is very wide-spread. It may no doubt be traced mainly to the 
want of European officers. This, however, is an evil not likely to be 
removed on any large scale. Meantime, unless some vigorous and 
radical improvements take place, I think our position will be very 
uncertain and even alarming in the event of extended hostilities. 
You must really forgive my speaking so plainly, and writing my own 
opinions so freely. You encouraged me to do so when I was at Agra, 
if you remember, and I value the privilege too higlily as connected 



12 FRIENDSHIP OF SIR HENRY LAWRENCE. 

with the greater one of receiving advice and counsel from you, not to 
exercise it, even at the risk of your thinking me presiimptuous and 
hasty in my opinions." 

Acting upon these impressions, lie applies for and obtains 
an exchange into the 1st Bengal Europeans, in which he is 
eighth second-lieutenant at the age of twenty-five, the junior 
in rank of boys of eighteen and nineteen. He feels that he 
has difficult cards to play, but resolves to make the best of 
everything, and regrets only " that the men who are to support 
the name and power of England in Asia are sent out here at 
an age when, neither by education nor reflection can they 
have learnt all, or even a fraction of what those words mean. 
It would be a happy thing for India and for themselves, if all 
came out here at a more advanced age than now, but one 
alone breaking through the custom in that respect made and 
provided, must not expect to escape the usual fate, or at least 
the usual annoyances, of innovators." 

At this point an opening, of which he was just the man to 
make the most, occurs. Mr. Thomason writes to Colonel, 
afterwards Sir Henry, Lawrence, the new political agent at 
Lahore, introducing Hodson ; and at once a friendship, 
founded on mutual appreciation, springs up between the two, 
to end only with their lives. The agent manages to have the 
young soldier constantly in his office, and to get all sorts of 
work out of him. As a reward, he takes him on an expedi- 
tion into Cashmere, in the autumn of 1846, whither they 
accompany the forces of Gholab Singh, to whom the country 
had been ceded by treaty. The letters from Cashmere on 
this occasion, and again in 1850, when he accompanied Sir 
Henry on a second trip to Cashmere and Thibet, are like 
nothing in the world but an Arabian Night which we feel to 
be true. The chiefs, the priests, the monasteries, the troops, 
the glorious country so misused by man, the wretched people, 
an English lady, young and pretty, travelling all alone in the 
wildest part on pony-back, all pass before us in a series of 
living photographs. We have room, however, for one quota- 
tion only : — 



SUPERINTENDS BmLDING AN ASYLUM. 13 

" The women are atrociously ugly, and sci-eech like the witches in 
Macbeth, — so much so, that when the agent asked me to give them a 
rupee or two, I felt it my duty to refuse, firmly but respectfully, on 
the ground that it would be encouraging ugliness. 

"I am the luckiest dog unhung (he concludes) to have got into Cash- 
mere. I fancy I am the first officer of our army who has been here 
save the few who have come officially." 

Colonel Lawrence was not the man to let his young friend's 
powers of work rust, so on their return we find Hodson set to 
build the famous Hill Asylum for white children at Subathoo. 

We may as well notice at once, in this early stage of his 
career, the man's honest training of himself in all ways, great 
and small, to take his place, and do his work in his world-bat- 
tle ; how he faces all tasks, however unwonted, ill-paid, or 
humble, which seem to be helpful ; how he casts off all habits, 
however pleasant or harmless, which may prove hindrances. 
And this he does with no parade or fine sentiment, but simply, 
almost unconsciously, often with a sort of apology which is 
humorously pathetic. For example, when set to work on the 
Asylum, he writes : — 

" Colonel Lawrence seems determined I shall have nothing to stop 
me, for his invariable reply to every question is, ' Act on your own 
judgment,' ' Do what you think right,' ' 1 give you carte blanche to 
act in my name, and draw on my funds,' and so forth." 

Which confidence is worthily bestowed. Hodson sets to 
work, forgetting all professional etiquette, and giving up soci- 
ety for the time. 

" Cutting trees down, getting lime burnt, bricks made, planks sawn 
up, the ground got ready, and then watching the work foot by foot; 
showing this "nigger" how to lay his bricks, another the proper pro- 
portions of a beam, another the construction of a door, and to the 
several artisans the mysteries of a screw, a nail, a hinge. You can- 
not say to a man, ' Make me a wall or a door,' but you must, witli 
your own hands, measure out his work, teach him to saw away here, 
to plane there, or drive such a nail, or insinuate such a suspicion of 
glue. And when it comes to be considered that this is altogether new 
work to me, and has to be excuded by cogitation on the spot, so as to 
give an answer to everj' inquirer, you may understand the amount of 
personal exertion and attention required for the work." 



14 ABJUEES TOBACCO AND BEER. 

Again, a few months later, November, 1847, — 

" I am in a high queer-lookiug native hotise among the ruins of this 
old stronghold of the Pathans, with orders ' to make a good road fi-om 
Lahore to the Sutlej, distance forty miles,' in as brief a space as pos- 
sible. On the ■willing-to-be-generally-useful principle, this is all very 
well, and one gets iised to turning one's hand to everything, but cer- 
tainly (but for circumstances over which I had no control) I always 
labored under the impression that I knew nothing at all about the 
matter. However, Colonel Lawrence walked into my room promis- 
cuously one morning, and said, ' Oh, Hodson, we have agreed that 
you must take in hand the road to Ferozepore. You can start in a 
day or two; ' and here 1 am.'''' 

Again, in January, 1848, he has been sent out surveying. 

" My present role is to survey a part of the country lying along the 
left bank of the Ravee and below the hills, and I am daily and all 
day at work with compasses and chain, pen and pencil, following 
streams, diving into valleys, burrowing into hills, to compilete my work. 
I need hardly remark, that, having never attempted anything of the 
kind hitherto, it is bothering at first." 

Again, in April, 1848, he has been set to hear all manner 
of cases, civil, criminal, and revenue, in the Lahore Court. 

"The duty is of vast importance, and I sometimes feel a half sensa- 
tion of modesty at being set down to administer justice in such mat- 
ters so early, and without previous training. A little practice, pa- 
tience, and reflection, settle most cases to one's satisfaction however; 
and one must be content with substantial justice as distinguished 
from technical law." 

Again, in a letter to his brother, — 

" Did I tell you, by-the-bye, that I abjured tobacco when I left Eng- 
land, and that I have never been tempted by even a night's al fresco 
to resume the delusive habit V Nor have I told you (because I de- 
spaired of your believing it) that I have declined from the paths of 
virtue in respect of beer also, these two years past, seldom or never 
tasting that once idolized stimulant! " 

We have no space to comment ; and can only hope that any 
gallant young oarsman or cricketer bound for India who may 
read this, will have the courage to follow Hodson's example, 
if he finds himself the better for abstinence, notwithstanding 
the fascination of the drink itself, and the cherished associa- 



"THE GUIDES." 15 

tloiis which twine round the pewter. My dear boys, remem- 
ber, as Hodson did, that if you are to get on well in India it 
will be owing, physically speaking, to your digestions. 

These glimpses will enable the reader to picture to himself 
how Hodson, now Assistant to the Resident at Lahore, as well 
as second in command of the Guides, was spending his time 
between the first and the final Sikh war. Let him throw in 
this description of the duties of " The Guides " : — 

" The gi-and object of the corps is to train a body of men in peace to 
be efficient in war; to be not only acquainted with localities, roads, 
rivers, hills, ferries, and passes, but have a good idea of the produce 
and supplies available in any part of the country; to give accurate 
information, not running open-mouthed to say that 10,000 horsemen 
and a thousand guns are coming, (in true native style,) but to stop to 
see whether it may not really be only a common cart and a few wild 
horsemen who are kicking vip all the dust ; to call twenty-five by its 
right name, and not say Jifty for short, as most natives do. This of 
course wants a great deal of careful instruction and attention. Be- 
yond this, the officers should give a tolerably connect sketch and re- 
port of any country through which they may pass, be au fait at 
routes and means of feeding troops, and above all (and here you come 
close upon political duties) keep an eye on the doings of the neigh- 
bors, and the state of the country, so as to be able to give such infor- 
mation as may lead to any outbreak being nipped in the bud." 

The reader will probably now be of opinion that the young 
lieutenant, willing to make himself generally useful, and given 
to locomotion, will be not unlikely to turn out a very tough 
nut for the Sikhs to crack when they have quite made up their 
minds to risk another fight ; and that time is rapidly drawing 
near. All through the spring and early summer months there 
are tumults and risings, which tell of a wide conspiracy. 
Hodson, after a narrow escape of accompanying Agnew to 
Mooltan, is scouring the country backwards and forwards, 
catching rebels and picking up news. In September, the 
Sikhs openly join the rebel Moolraj. General Whish is 
obliged to raise the siege of Mooltan ; the grand struggle be- 
tween the cow-killers and cow-worshippers on the banks of 
the Chenab has begun. 



16 DARING EXPLOITS. 

We wish we had space to follow Hodson and his Guides 
through the series of daring exploits by which the Doab was 
cleared, and which so enraged the Sikhs that " party after 
party were sent to polish me off, and at one time I couldn't 
stir about the country without having bullets sent at my head 
from every bush and wall." He was attached to Wheeler's 
brigade during the greater jjart of the struggle, but joined the 
army of the Punjaub in time for the battle of Gujerat, which 
finished the war, and at which he and Lumsden his com- 
mander, and Lake of the Engineers, are mentioned in Lord 
Gough's despatch as most active in conveying orders through- 
out the action. We cannot however resist one story. The 
old Brigadier, making all haste to join the grand army, where 
he expects to get a division, leaves two forts at Kulallwala and 
4000 unbeaten rebels in his rear. He is ordered back to ac- 
count for them, whereupon Brigadier turns sulky. Hodson 
ui'ges him to move on like lightning and crush them, but " he 
would not, and began to make short marches, so I was com- 
pelled to outmanoeuvre him by a bold stroke." Accordingly 
he starts with 100 of his Guides, when twenty-five miles from 
Kulallwala, and fairly frightens a doubtful sirdar, " preparing 
munitions of war, mounting guns, and looking saucy," out of 
his fort. Whereupon the Sikhs abandon a neighboring fort, 
and the road to Kulallwala is open without a shot fired. 

" In the morning I marched with my little party towai-ds the enemy, 
sending back a messenger to the Brigadier to say that I was close to 
the place, and that if he did not come on sharp they would run away 
or overwhelm me. He was dreadfully angry, but came on like a good 
boy! When within a mile or so of the fort, I halted my party to 
allow his column to get up nearer, and as soon as I could see it, moved 
on quietly. The ruse told to pei-fection: thinking they had only 100 
men and myself to deal with, the Sikhs advanced in strength, thirty 
to one, to meet me, with colors flying and drums beating. Just then 
a breeze sprung up, the dust blew aside, and the long line of horsemen 
coming on rapidly behind my party burst upon their senses. They 
turned instantly, and made for the fort; so, leaving my men to advance 
quietly after them, I galloped up to the Brigadier, pointed out the 
flying Sikhs, explained their position, and begged him to charge 
them. He melted fi-om his wrath, and told two regiments of Irreg- 



SECOND SIKH WAR, 1849. 17 

ulars to follow my guidance. On we went at the gallop, cut in 
amongst the fugitives, and punished them fearfully." 

" The Brigadier lias grown quite active, and very fond of 
me since that day at Kulallwala, though he had the wit to 
see how brown I had done him by making him march two 
marches in one." It is certainly to the Brigadier's credit that 
he does seem to have appreciated his provoking " Guide," for 
he mentions him in the highest terms in despatch after de- 
spatch, and at the close of the war comforts him thus : " Had 
your name been Hay or Kamsay, no honors, no appointments, 
no distinctions would have been considered too great to mark 
the services you have rendered to Government." 

The war ended, the Punjaub is annexed, and Hodson with 
it, who loses all his appointments and returns to " the Guides." 

He feels sore of course at the loss of his occupation and 
position, but sticks to his drill-sergeant's work now that there 
is nothing higher to do, and pities from his heart the dozens 
of regimental officers at Peshawur who have not an hour's 
work in two days. It is a recently formed station, with a fly- 
ing column of 10,000 men there for the hot months, and no 
books or society ; " people are pitched headlong on to their 
own resources, and find them very hard falling indeed." 

The first Sikh war had opened Hodson's eyes as to the 
merits of the Sepoys ; the second makes him moralize much 
about the system of promotion. 

He concludes that for war, especially in India, "your leaders 
must be young to be eifective," in which sentiment we heartily 
agree; — but how to get them ? " There are men of iron, like 
Napier and Badetzky, aged men whom nothing affects; but 
they are just in sufficient numbers to prove the rule by estab- 
lishing exceptions." And would not the following be ludi- 
crous, but that men's lives are in the balance ? 

" A brigadier of infantry, under whom I served during the three 
most critical days of the late war, could not see his regiment when I 
led his horse by the bridle until its nose touched the bayonets; and 
even then he said faintly, ' Pray which way ai'e the men facing, Mr. 
Hodson?' This is no exaggeration, I assure j'ou. Can you wonder 



18 APPOINTED ASSISTANT COMMISSIONER. 

that our troops have to recover by desperate fighting, and with heavy 
loss, the advantages thrown away by the want of heads and eyes to 
lead them ? 

" A seniority service, like that of the Company, is all very well for 
poor men; better still for fools, for they must rise equally with wise 
men ; but for maintaining the discipline and efficiency of the army in 
time of peace, and hurling it on the enemy in war, there never was a 
system which carried so many evils on its front and face." 

His fast friend, Sir Henry Lawrence, again intervenes, and 
he is appointed an Assistant Commissioner, leaving the Guides 
for a time. In this capacity, in April, 1850, he comes across 
the new Commander-in-Chief : — 

" I have just spent three days in Sir Charles Napier's camp, it being 
my duty to accompany him through such parts of the civil district as 
he may have occasion to visit. He was most kind and cordial; 
vastly amusing and interesting, and gave me even a higher opinion of 
him than before. To be sure, his language and mode of expressing 
himself savor more of the last than of this century — of the camp 
than of the court; but barring these eccentricities, he is a wonderful 
man; his heart is as thoroughly in his work, and he takes as high a 
tone in all that concerns it, as Arnold did in his ; that is to say, the 
highest the subject is capable of. I only trust he will remain with us 
as long as his health lasts, and endeavor to rouse the army from the 
state of slack discipline into which it has fallen. On my parting with 
him he said, ' Now, remember, Hodson, if there is any way in which 
I can be of use to j'^ou, pray don't scruple to write to me. ' " 

After working in the Civil Service, chiefly in the Cis-Sutlej 
Provinces, for nearly two years, under Mr. Edmonstone, he is 
promoted to the command of the Guides on Lumsden's return 
to England. The wild frontier district of Euzofzai is handed 
over to him, where 

" I am military as well as civil chief; and the natural taste of the 
Euzofzai Pathans for broken heads, murder, and violence, as well as 
their litigiousness about their lands, keeps me very hard at work from 
day to day." 

Here he settles with his newly married wife, " the most for- 
tunate man in the service ; and have I not a right to call 
myself the happiest also, with such a wife and such a home ? " 



EPISODE OF HOME. 19 

For nearly three years he rules this province, building a large 
foi't for his regiment, fighting all marauders from the hills, 
training his men in all ways, even to practising their own 
sports with them. 

" William is very clever " his wife writes " at this," cutting an orange, 
placed on a bamboo, in two, at full speed, " rarely failing. He is 
grievously overworked; still his health is wonderfully good, and his 
spirits as wild as if he were a boy again. He is never so well pleased 
as when he has the baby in his arms." 

Yes, the baby, — for now comes in a little episode of home 
and family, a gentle and bright gem in the rough setting of 
the soldier's life ; and the tender and loving father and hus- 
band stands before us as vividly as the daring border-leader. 

" You would so delight in her baby tricks," he writes to his father. 
" The young lady already begins to show a singularity of taste — refus- 
ing to go to the arms of any native women, and decidedly preferring 
the male population, some of whom are distinguished by her special 
favor. Her own ordei'ly, save the mark, never tires of looking at her 
' beautiful white fingers,' nor she of twisting them into his black 
beard, — an insult to an Oriental, which he bears with an equanimity 
equal to his fondness for her. The cunning fellows have begun to 
make use of her too, and when they want anything, ask the favor in 
the name of Lilli Baba (they cannot manage ' Olivia' at all). They 
know the spell is potent." 

But for the particulars of life in the wilderness, we must 
refer our readers to Mrs. Hodson's letters (pp. 146-9). This 
happiness was not destined to last. In July, 1854, the child 
dies. 

" The deep agony of this bereavement I have no words to describe," 
the father writes. " She had wound her little being round our hearts 
to an extent which we neither of us knew until we awoke from the 
brief dream of beauty, and found ourselves childless." 

Another trial too is at hand. In the autumn of 1854, Sir 
H. Lawrence is removed from the Punjaub, and in October, 
charges are trumped up (there is no other word for it, looking 
to the result) against Hodson, in both his civil and military 
capacity. A court of inquiry is appointed ; and before that 



20 TRUMPED-UP CHARGES. 

court has reported, he is suspended from all civil and military 
duty. 

Into the details of the charges against him we -will not 
enter, lest we should be tempted into the use of hard words, 
which his brother has nobly refrained from. All that need be 
stated is, that the sting lay in the alleged confusion of his regi- 
mental accounts. The Court of Inquiry appointed Major 
Taylor to examine these, and report on them. This was in 
January, 1855 ; in February, 1856, Taylor presented an elab- 
orate report, wholly exculpating Hodson. Mr. Montgomery, 
(then Commissioner for the Punjaub, now Chief Commissioner 
in Oude,) to whom it was submitted, calls it the most satisfac- 
tory report he ever read, and most triumphant. This report, 
however, though made public on the spot, had not, even in 
May, 1857, been communicated to the Government of India ; 
whether suppressed on purpose, or not, there is no evidence. 
But when at last faii-ly brought to their notice by a remon- 
strance from the accused, the satisfactory nature of the docu- 
ment may be gathered from the fact that the answer is, " his 
remonstrance will be placed on recoi'd for preservation, not 
for justification, which it is fully admitted was not required, — 
no higher testimonials were ever produced." 

It is with the man himself that we are concerned. We 
have seen him in action, and in prosperity ; how will he face 
disgrace and disaster ? — 

" I must endeavor to face the wrong, the grievous, foul wrong, with 
a constant and unshaken heart, and to endure humiliation and disgrace 
with as much equanimity as I may; and with the same soldierlike 
fortitude with which I ought to face danger, suffering, and death in 
the path of duty. . . . Our darling babe was taken from us on the 
day my public misfortunes began, and death has robbed us of our 
father before their end. The brain-pressure was almost too m^^ch for 
me. ... I strive to look the worst boldly in the face as I would an 
enemy in the field, and to do my appointed work resolutely and to the 
best of my ability, satisfied that there is a reason for all; and that 
even irksome duties well done bring their own reward, and that if not, 
still they are duties. . . . 

" It is pleasant to find that not a man who knows me has any belief 
that there has been anything wrong. . . . Not one of them all (and, 



FACING MISFOETUNE. 21 

indeed, I believe I might include my worst foes and accusers in the 
category) believes that I have committed any more than eiTors of 
judgment." 

Thus he writes to brother and sister ; and, for the rest, goes 
back resolutely to his old regunent, and begins again the com- 
mon routine of a subaltern's duties, congratulating himself 
that the colonel wishes to give him the adjutancy, in which 
post 

" I shall have the opportunity of learning a good deal of work which 
will be useful to me, and of doing, I hope, a good deal of good amongst 
the men. It will be the first step up the ladder again, after tumbling 
to the bottom." 

The colonel gets him to take the office of quartermaster, 
however, not the adjutancy, the former office " having fallen 
into great disorder;" and in January, 1857, the honest old 
officer, of his own accord, writes a letter to the Adjutant- 
General, requesting him to submit to the Commander-in- 
Chief " that, his public record and acknowledgment of the 
essential service Lieutenant Hodsou has done the regiment 
at his special request ; " and urging on his Excellency to 
find some worthier employment for the said lieutenant. In 
the same tone writes Brigadier Johnstone, commanding at 
Umbala, through whom the colonel's letter had to be for- 
warded ; and who " trusts his Excellency will allow of his 
submitting it in a more special and marked manner than by 
merely countersigning ; for," goes on the General, " Lieutenant 
Hodson has, with patience, perseverance, and zeal, undertaken 
and carried • out the laborious minor duties of the regimental 
staff, as well as those of a company; and with a diligence, 
method, and accuracy, such as the best trained regimental 
officers have never surpassed." 

We sympathize entirely with the editor, when he bursts out, 
" I know nothing in my brother's whole career more truly 
admirable, or showing more real heroism, than his conduct at 
this period, while battling with adverse fates." 

But there was now no need of letters from generals or 



22 INTERVIEW WITH GEN. ANSON. 

colonels (however accejjtable such testimonies might be In 
themselves) to restore Hodson to his proper position, for the 
mutterings of the great eruption are already beginning to be 
heard, and the ground is heaving under the feet of the 
English in India. 

" We are in a state of some anxiety, owing to the spread of a very 
serious spirit of disaffection ainoug the Sepoy army. It is our great 
danger in India, and Lord Hardinge's prophecy, that our biggest fight 
in India would be with our own army, seems not unlilvely to be real- 
ized, and that before long. Native papers, education, and progress, 
are against keeping 200,000 native mercenaries in hand." 

This is not the exact time a sane Commander-in-Chief, 
looking about for helpful persons, should choose for letting a 
certain Lieutenant Hodson, lately under a cloud, but, we hear, 
a smart officer, and of great knowledge concerning, and 
influence with natives, out of our reach. So thinks General 
Anson about the 5th of May, 1857, when Hodson, out of all 
patience at finding that Taylor's report has never reached the 
authorities at Calcutta, applies to him for leave to go to Cal- 
cutta to clear himself However, by this time the ill-used 
lieutenant can aiford to joke about his own misfortunes, and 
writes, — 

" There were clearly three courses open to me, ' a la Sir Eobert 
Peel.' 

"1st. Suicide. 

" 2d. To resign the service in disgust, and join the enemy. 

" 3d. To make the Governor-General eat his words, and apologize. 

"I chose the last. 

"The first was too melodramatic and foreign; the second would 
have been a triumph to my foes in the Punjaub ; besides, the enemy 
might have been beaten ! 

" I have determined, therefore, on a trip to Calcutta." 

Wherefore General Anson has Interviews with this out- 
rageous lieutenant; is "most polite, even cordial," and "while 
approving of my idea of going down to Calcutta, and thinking 
it plucky to undertake a journey of two thousand five hundred 
miles in such weather," thinks " I had better wait till I hear 



ASSISTANT QUARTERMASTEE-GENERAL. 23 

again from him, for he will himself write to Lord Canning, 
and try to get justice done me." 

In six days from this time India is in a blaze. 

With the news of the outbreak come orders to the 1st 
European Fusileers to move down to Umbala, on the route to 
Delhi. They march the sixty miles in less than two days, but, 
on their arrival, find an unsatisfactory state of things : 

" Here," writes Hodson, " alarm is the prevalent feeling, and con- 
ciliation, of men with arms in their hands and in a state of absolute 
rebellion, the order of the day. This system, if pursued, is far more 
dangerous than anything the Sepoys can do to us. I do trust the 
authorities will act with vigor, else there is no knowing where the 
affair will end. Oh, for Sir Charles now ! The times are critical, but 
I have no fear of aught save the alarm and indecision of our rulers." 

The Commander-in-Chief arrives, and now, to Hodson's 
most naive astonishment, which breaks out in the comicalest 
way in his letters, he regains all he has ever lost by one leap. 

" May 17th. — Yesterday, I was sent for by the Commander-in-Chief, 
and appointed Assistant Quartermaster-General on his personal staff, 
to be under the immediate orders of his Excellency, and with com- 
mand to raise one hundred horse and fiftj^ foot, for service in the Intel- 
ligence Department, and as personal escort. All this was done, more- 
over, in a most complimentary way, and it is quite in my line." 

We can see clearly enough, from our own point of view, 
what has been at work for a lieutenant lately under a cloud. 
The plot thickens apace. 

But who, at this juncture, will open the road to Meerut, 
from the general in command of which place we want papers 
and intelligence ? The following extract from the letter of 
an officer stationed at that place wiU, perhaps, explain : — 

" When the mutiny broke out, our communications were completely 
cut off. One night, on outlying picket at Meerut, this subject being 
discussed, I said, 'Hodson is at Umbala, I know; and I'll bet he will 
force his way through, and open communications with the Com- 
mander-in-Chief and ourselves.' At about three that night I heard 
my advanced sentries firing. I rode off to see what was the matter, 
and they told me that a party of the enemy's cavalry had approached 
their post. When day broke, in galloped Hodson. He had left 



24 MARCH ON DELHI, 1857. 

Kurnal (seventy-six miles off) at nine the night before, with one led 
horse and an escort of Sikh cavalry, and, as I had anticipated, here he 
was with despatches for Wilson. How I quizzed him for approaching 
an armed post at night without knowing the parole. Hodson rode 
straight to Wilson, had his interview, a bath, breakfast, and two 
hours' sleep, and then rode back the seventy-six miles, and had to 
fight his way for about thirty miles of the distance." 

The pace pleased the general, Hodson supposes, for " he 
ordered me to raise a corps of Irregular Horse, and appointed 
me Commandant," but " still no tidings from the hills," (where 
his wife is ; ) " this is a terrible additional pull upon one's 
nerves at a time Uke this, and is a phase of war I never 
calculated on." 

On the 27th of May the march towards Delhi begins, and 
Hodson accompanies, acting as Assistant Quartermaster-Gen- 
eral attached to the Commander-in-Chief, " with free access to 
him at any time, and to other people in authority, which gives 
me power for good. The Intelligence Department is mine ex- 
clusively, and I have for this line Sir Henry's old friend, the 
one-eyed Moulvie, Rujub Alee, so I shall get the best news in 
the country." He starts, too, happy about his wife from whom 
he has heard ; the hill stations all safe, and likely to remain so. 

General Anson dies of cholei'a, and General Barnard suc- 
ceeds ; still, oddly enough, no change takes place in our lieu- 
tenant's appointments, And so the little army marches, all too 
slowljr, as the lieutenant thinks and remonstrates, upon Delhi. 
Other men are answering to the pressure of the times : — 

" Colonel T. Seaton and the other officers have gone to Eohtuck with 
the 60th Native Infantry, who, I have no doubt, will desert to a man as 
soon as they get there. It is very plucky of him and the other officers 
to go; and very hard of the authorities to send them; a half-hearted 
measui'e, and very discreditable, in my opinion, to all concerned; 
affoi-ding a painful contrast to Sir John Lawi-ence's bold and decided 
conduct in this crisis. This regiment (1st Fusileers) is a credit to any 
army, and the fellows are in as high spirits and heart, and as plucky 
and free from croaking as possible, and really do good to the whole 
force. 

" Alfred Liglit doing his work manfully and well. . . . Montgomery 
has come out very, very strong indeed ; but many are beginning to 



SIEGE OF DELHI. 25 

kuock up already, and this is but the beginning of this work, I fear; 
and before this business ends, we who are, thank God, still young and 
strong, shall alone be left in camp ; all the elderly gentlemen will 
sink under the fatigue and exposure." 

June 5th. — Head-quarters arrive at Aleepore, nearly at the 
end of our march, in fact one may say at the end, for on that day 
I rode right up to the Delhi parade-ground to reconnoitre, and 
the few sowars whom I met galloped away like mad at the sight 
of one white face. " Had I had a hundred Guides with me I 
would have gone up to the very walls ; " and on June the 8th 
we occupy our position before Delhi, having driven the enemy 
out of their position ; not without loss, for Colonel Chester is 
killed, Alfred Light (who won the admiration of all) wounded. 
. . . No one else of the staff party killed or wounded ; but 
our general returns will, I fear, tell a sad tale. I am merci- 
fully unhurt, and write this line in pencil on the top of a drum 
to assure you thereof. 

We must break the narrative here for a moment, now that 
we have got the combatants face to face, in the place of decis- 
ion, to submit to our readers our own conviction that this same 
siege of Delhi, beginning on June 9th and ending trium- 
phantly on September 22d, 1857, is the feat of arms of 
which England has most cause to be proud. From Cressy to 
Sebastopol it has never been equalled. A mere handful of 
Englishmen, for half the time numbering less than three thou- 
sand, sat down in the open field, in the worst days of an Indian 
summer, without regular communications, (for the daks were 
only got carried by bribery, stage by stage,) without proper 
artillery, and last and worst of all, without able leading, before 
and took a city larger than Glasgow, garrisoned by an army 
trained by Englishmen, and numbering at first 20,000, in 
another ten days 37,000, and at last 75,000 men, supphed with 
all but exhaustless munitions of war, and in the midst of a na- 
tion in arms. " I venture to aver," writes Hodson, " that no 
other nation in the world would have remained here, or have 
avoided defeat, had they attempted to do so." We agree with 
2 



26 SIEGE OF DELHI. 

him ; and we do trust that the nation will come to look at the 
siege of Delhi in the right light, and properly to acknowledge 
and reward the few who remain of that band of heroes who 
saved British India. 

Our readers must also remember that we are not giving the 
story of the siege, but the story of Hodson's part therein, and 
must therefore not think we are unduly putting him forward to 
the depreciation of other as glorious names. We would that 
we had the same means of following the life day by day of 
Nicholson and Chamberlain, Tombs and Light, Welchman, 
Showers, Plome, Salkeld, or a hundred others equally gallant. 
But what we have is Hodson's life compiled from his daily let- 
ters to his wife. No doubt the work of the regulars was as 
important, perhaps even more trying, than that of the Captain 
of Irregular Cavalry, Assistant Quartermaster-General, and 
head of the Intelligence Department ; but these were his duties, 
and not the others', and we shall now see how he fulfilled 
them. 

On the first day of the siege " the Guides " march into 
camp : 

" It would have done your heart good to see the welcome they gaA'e 
me — cheering and shouting and crowding round me like frantic crea- 
tures. They seized my bridle, dress, hands, and feet, and literally 
threw themselves down before the horse with the tears streaming 
down their faces. Many ofiScers who were present hardly knew what 
to make of it, and thought the creatures were mobbing me; and so 
they were — but for joy, not for mischief." 

"Burrah Serai-wallah," they shouted, ("great in battle" in 
the vulgar tongue,) making the staff and others open their eyes, 
who do not much believe, for their part, in the power of any 
Englishman really to attach to himself any native rascals. 

Next day, June 10th, the ball opens. The mutineers march 
out in force and attack our position : 

" I had command of all the troops on our right, the gallant Guides 
among the rest. They followed me, with a cheer for their old com- 
mander, and behaved with their usual pluck, and finally we drove 
the enemy in with loss. . . . Indeed, I did not expose myself uuneces- 



PLAN FOR TAKING DELHI. 27 

sarily ; for having to direct tlie movements of three or four regiments, 
I could not be in the front as much as I wished." 

But wives will be anxious, my lieutenant, and making all 
just allowances, it must be confessed that you give her fair 
cause : 

" The warmth of the reception again given me by the Guides was 
quite affecting, and has produced a great sensation in camp, and had 
a good effect on our native troops, insomuch that they are more will- 
ing to obey their European officers when they see their own country- 
men's enthusiasm. 

" My position is Assistant Quartermaster-General on the Command- 
er-in-Chief's personal staff. I am responsible for the Intelligence De- 
partment, and in the field, or when anything is going on for directing 
the movements of the troops in action, under the immediate orders of 
the general." 

Again, on June 1 2th, we are at it : — 

" A sharp fight for four hours, ending as usual. They have never 
yet been so punished as to-day. The Guides behaved admirably, so 
did the Fusileers as usual. I am vexed much at the Lahore Chronicle 
butler, and wish people would leave me alone in the newspapers. The 
best butter I get is the deference and respect I meet with from all 
whose respect I care for, and the affectionate enthusiasm of the 
Guides, which increases instead of lessening." 

But this daily repulsing attacks cannot be allowed to go on ; 
cannot we have something to say to attacking them ? So the 
general thinks, and sets Greathed, assisted by me and two 
more engineers, to submit a plan for taking Delhi. 

"We drew up our scheme and gave it to the general, who highly 
approved, and will, I trust, carry it out; but how times must be 
changed, when four subalterns are called upon to suggest a means of 
carrying out so vitally important an entei-prise as this, one on which 
the safety of the empire depends ! " 

Simple but " perfectly feasible " plan of four subalterns : 
blow open gates with powder, and go in with bayonet, and that 
there may be no mistake about it, I volunteer to lead the assault 
(wholly unmindful of that assurance given to a loving heart in 
the hiUs that I am not exposing myself) and fix on a small 



28 EARLY TROUBLES. 

building in front of the gate as the rendezvous, which is now 
called " Hodson's Mosque." 

General approves, and orders assault for the morning of 
June 13th. Alas for our " perfectly feasible " plan ! 

" We were to have taken Delhi by assault last night, but a ' mis- 
take of orders ' ( ?) as to the right time of bringing the troops to the 
rendezvous prevented its execution. I am much annoved and disap- 
pointed at our plan not having been carried out, because I am confi- 
dent it would have been successful. The rebels were cowed, and 
perfectly ignorant of any intention of so bold a stroke on our part as 
an assault; the surprise would have done everything." 

Next day there is another fight. A council of war. Our 
plan is still approved, but put off from day to day. Aban- 
doned at last, we are to wait for reinforcements. Poor " feasible 
plan ! " 

" It was frustrated the first night by the fears and absolute disobe- 
dience of orders of , the man who first lost Delhi, and has now 

by folly prevented its being recaptured. The general has twice since 
wished and even ordered it, but has always been thwarted by some 

one or other; latterly by that old woman , who has come here for 

nothing apparently but as an obstacle; is also a crying evil to 

us. The general knows this and wants to get rid of him, but has not 
the nerve to supersede him. The whole state of affairs here is bad to 
a degree." 

And here I am (June 19th), with fights going on every day, 
knocked down with bronchitis and inflammation of the chest, 
" really very ill for some hours." " The general nurses me as 
if I were his son. I woke in the night and found the kind 
old man by my bedside covering me carefully up from the 
draught." But on June 20th (bronchitis notwithstanding) I 
am up and at woi^k again, for the Sepoys have attacked our 
rear to-day, and though beaten as usual. Colonel Becher 
(Quartermaster-General) is shot through right arm, and Daly 
(commanding Guides) hit through the shoulder. So the whole 
work of the Quartermaster-General's office is on me, and the 
general begs me as a personal favor to take command of 
Guides in addition." I at first refused, but the general was 
most urgent, putting it on the ground that the service was at 



ACCEPTS COMMAND OF "THE GUIDES." 29 

stake, and none was so fit, &c. &c. I do feel that we are 
bound to do our best just now to put things on a proper foot- 
ing ; and after consulting Seaton and Norman, I accepted the 

command. How will gnash his teeth to see me leading 

my dear old Guides again in the field. 

And so we fight on, literally day by day, for now " our artil- 
lery officers themselves say they are outmatched by these 
rascals in accuracy and rapidity of fire ; and as they have 
unhmited supplies of guns, &c., they are quite beyond us in 
many respects. We are, in point of fact, reduced to merely 
holding our own ground till we get more men." Still we don't 
feel at all like giving in. 

" The wounded genei-ally are doing well, poor fellows, considering 
the heat, dirt, and want of any bed but the dry ground. Their pluck 
is wonderful, and it is not in the field alone that you see what an 
English soldier is made of. One poor fellow who was smoking his 
pipe and laughing with the comrade by his side, was asked, what was 
the matter with him, and he answered in a lively voice, ' Oh, not 
much. Sir, only a little knock on the back ; I shall be up and at the 
rascals again in a day or two.' He had been shot in the spine, and 
all his lower limbs were paralyzed. He died next day. Colonel 
Welchman is about again; too soon, I fear, but there is no keeping 
the brave old man quiet. Poor Peter Brown is very badly wounded, 
but he is cheerful, and bears up bravely. Jacob has ' come out ' 
wonderfully. He is cool, active, and bold, keeps his wits about him 
under fire, and does altogether well. We are fortunate in having him 
with the force. Good field-officers are very scarce indeed; I do not 
wonder at people at a distance bewailing the delay in the taking of 
Delhi. No one not on the spot can appreciate the difficulties in the 
way, or the painful truth, that those difficulties increase upon us." 

I am rather out of sorts still myself, also. li is a burden to 
me to stand or walk, and the excessive heat makes it difficult 
for me to recover from that sharp attack of illness. " The 
doctors urge me to go away for a little, to get strength — as if 
I could leave just now, or as if I would if I could." ... So I 
am in the saddle all day, (June 24th,) though obliged occasion- 
ally to rest a bit where I can find shelter, and one halt is 
by Alfred Light. 

" It does me good to see the ' Light of the ball-room ' working away 



30 EXPENDITURE OF LIFE. 

at his guns, begrimed with dust and heat, ever cheery and cool, 
though dead beat from fatigue and exposure. How our men fought 
to-day; liquid fire was no name for tlie fervent heat; but nothing less 
than a knoclt-down blow from sun, sword, or bullet, stops a British 
soldier." 

My glorious old regiment ! how they have suffered in this 
short three weeks ; Colonel Welchman badly hit in the arm, 
Greville down with fever, Wriford with dysentery, Dennis 
with sunstroke, Brown with wounds. 

" Jacob and the ' boys ' have all the work to themselves, and well 
indeed do the boys behave — with a courage and coolness which 
would not disgrace veterans. Little Tommy Butler, Owen, Warner, 
all behave like heroes, albeit with sadly diminishing numbers to lead. 
Neville Chamberlain is come in, who ought to be worth a thousand 
men to us." 

Those rascals actually came out to-day (June 25th), in their 
red coats and medals ! 

" We are not very well off, quarit a la cuisine. I never had so much 
trouble in getting anything fit to eat, except when I dine with the 
general. Colonel Seaton lives in my tent, and is a gi-eat companion; 
his joyous disposition is a perpetual rebuke to the croakers." 

And so too was your own, my Lieutenant, for we have for- 
tunately a letter from a distinguished officer, in which he 

says, — 

" Affairs at times looked very queer, from the frightful expenditure 
of life. Hodson's face was then like sunshine breaking through the 
dark clouds of despondency and gloom that would settle down occa- 
sionally on all but a few brave hearts, England's worthiest sons, who 
were determined to conquer." 

But this siege does set one really thinking in earnest about 
several things, and this is the conclusion at which our Lieu- 
tenant arrives : — 

" There is but one rule of action for a soldier in the field, as for a 
man at all times, to do that which is best for the public good; to 
make that your sole aim, resting assured that the result will in the 
end be best for individual interest also. I am quite indifferent not to 
see my name appear in newspaper paragraphs and despatches ; only 



DEATH OF GENERAL BAKNARD. 31 

content if I can perform my duty truly and honestly, and too thank- 
ful to the Almighty if I am daily spared for future labors or future 
repose." 

But here is another coil this June 27th : — 

" There has been an outcry throughout the camp at 's having 

fled from Bhagput, the bridge which caused me so much hard riding 
and hard work to get, some time ago." 

He has actually bolted, on a report of mutineers coming, 
leaving boats, bridge, and all. By this conduct he has lost our 
communication with Meerut, and that too when our reinforce- 
ments were actually in sight. The consequence is that I have to 
go down to Bhagput to recover boats, bridge, &c., and reopen 
communication, which is done at once and satisfactorily ; and 
by July 2d we are quite comfortable, for I have set myself up 
with plates, &c., for one rupee, and Colonel Seaton's traps and 
servants will be here to-day . . . except that we are some- 
what vexed in our spirits, for 

" has been shelved and allowed to get sick, to save him from 

supersession. I do not like euphuisms. In these days men and 
things should be called by their right names, that we might know 
how far either should be trusted. 

" Jubj 5ih. — General Barnard dies of cholera after a few hours' ill- 
ness. Personally I am much grieved, for no kinder or more consider- 
ate or gentlemanly man ever lived. I am so sorry for his son, a fine 
brave fellow, whose attention to his father won the love of us all. It 
was quite beautiful to see them together." 

And so we plunge on day after day, the rain nearly flood- 
ing us out of camp. Will the ladies in the hills make us some 
flannel shirts ? 

" The soldiers bear up like men, but the constant state of wet is no 
small addition to what they have to endure from heat, hard work, and 
fighting. I know by experience what a comfort a dry flannel shirt 
is. 

" July 12th. — Three hundred of my new regiment arrive ; very fine- 
looking fellows, most of them. I am getting quite a little ax-my under 
me, what with the Guides and my own men. Would to Heaven they 
would give us something more to do than this desultory warfare, 



32 BEFORE DELHI. 

which destroys our best men, and brings us no whit nearer Delhi, and 
removes the end of the campaign to an indefinite period." 

Another fight this 14th July, one of the sharpest we have 
yet had, and we who have to lead were obliged to expose our- 
selves, but really not more than we could help ; and how the 
papers can have got hold of this wound story I can't think, for 
I didn't tell it even to you. The facts are thus : — 

" A rascally Pandy made a thrust at my horse, which I parried, 
when he seized his ' tulwar ' in both hands, bringing it down like a 
sledge-hammer; it caught on the iron of my antigropelos legging, 
which it broke into the skin, cut through the stirrup-leather, and took 
a slice off my boot and stocking ; and yet, wonderful to say, the sword 
did not penetrate the skin. Both my horse and myself were staggered 
by the force of the blow, but I recovered myself quickly, and I don't 
think that Pandy will ever raise his 'tulwar' again." 

But, to show you that I did no more than was necessary, I 
must tell you what Chamberlain had to do, who led in another 
part. 

" Seeing a hesitation among the troops he led, who did not like the 
look of a wall lined with Pandies, and stopped short, instead of going 
up to it, he leaped his horse clean over the wall into the midst of 
them, and dared the men to follow, which they did, but he got a ball 
in the shoulder." 

I must positively give up the Quartermaster-General's work ; 
head-quarters' staff seems breaking down altogether. Gen- 
eral Keed goes to the hills to-night; Congreve and Curzon 
have been sent off, too ; Chamberlain and Becher ©n their 
backs with wounds. 

" Colonel Young, Norman, and myself, are therefore the only repre- 
sentatives of the head-quarters' stafi', except the doctors and com- 
missaries. I am wonderfully well, thank God ! and able to get 
through as much work as any man ; but commanding two regiments, 
and being eyes and ears to the whole army, too, is really too much." 

Again, to-day (July 19) a sharp fight; Pandies in great 
force — driven pellmell up to the walls ; but how about get- 
ting back. 

" We were commanded by a fine old gentleman, who might sit for 



COLONEL JONES. 33 

a 'portrait of Falstaff, so fat and jolly is he, Colonel Jones, of 60th 
Eifles." 

Jolly old Briton, with the clearest possible notion of going 
on, but as for retiring, little enough idea of that sort of work 
in Colonel Jones. 

" The instant we began to draw off, they followed us, their immense 
numbers giving them a great power of aimoyance at very slight cost 
to themselves. The brave old colonel was going to retire ' all of a 
heap,' infantry, guns, and all in a helpless mass, and we should have 
suffered cruel loss in those narrow roads, with walls and .buildings on 
both sides. I rode up to him and pointed this out, and in reply re- 
ceived carte blanche to act as I saw best. This was soon done, with 
the assistance of Henry Vicars (Adjutant 61st) and Coghill (Adju- 
tant 2d Bengal European Fusileers), both cool soldiers under fire, 
though so young, and we got off in good order and with trifling loss, 
drawing the men back slowly, and in regular order, covered by Dix- 
on's and Money's guns." 

This colonel, too, with no notion of retreating, is a candid 
man ; goes straight- to the general on his return, and begs to 
thank our Lieutenant, and to say he hopes for no better aid 
whenever he has to lead ; unlike some persons under whom 
we have served. 

" The general has begged me to give up the Guides, and not the 
quartermaster-general's office. You, at least, will rejoice that it 
greatly diminishes the risk to life and limb, which, I confess, lately 
has been excessive in my case." 

News of Wheeler's surrender — of the massacre four days 
later (July 26), and our blood is running fire. " There will 
be a day of reckoning for these things, and a fierce one, or I 
have been a soldier in vain." Another fight on the 24th, and 
Seaton down with chest-wound, but doing well ; " he is pa- 
tient and gentle in suffering as a woman, and this helps his 
recovery wonderfully." . . . Thanks for the flannel waistcoats ; 
but as for you and Mrs. coming to camp as nurses, no. 

" Unless any unforeseen emergency should arise, I would strongly 
dissuade any lady from coming to camp. They would all very 
speedily become patients in the very hospitals which they came to 
serve, and would so willingly support. The flannel garments are 



34 NANA SAHIB. 

invaluable, and this is aU that can be done for us by female hands at 
present. . . . You say there is a great difference between doing one's 
duty and running unnecessary risks, and you say truly; the only 
question, what is one's duty. Now, I might, as I have more than 
once, see things going wrong at a time and place when I might be 
merely a spectator, and not ' on duty,' or ordered to be there, and I 
might feel that by exposing myself to danger for a time 1 might rec- 
tify matters, and I might therefore think it right to incur that danger; 
and yet, if I were to get hit, it would be said ' he had no business 
there ; ' nor should I, as far as the rules of the service go, though, iu 
my own mind, I should have been satisfied that I was right. These 
are times when every man should do his best, his utmost, and not say, 
' No ; though I see I can do good there, yet, as I have not been or- 
dered and am not on duty, I will not do it.' This is not my idea of 
a soldier's duty, and hitherto the results have proved me right." 

August Sd. — Rumor that Sir Henry is dead at Lucknow. 
The news has quite unnerved me. 5th. — Nana Sahib, the 
murderer (you remember the man at the artillery review, a 
" swell " looking native gentleman, who spoke French, and 
was talking a good deal to Alfred Light), has been beaten by 
Havelock, they say has drowned himself. 

" I hope it is not true ; for it is one of my aims to have the catch- 
ing of the said Nana myself. The hanging him would be a positive 
pleasure to me. . . . Nicholson has come on ahead of our reinforce- 
ments from the Punjaub; a host in himself, if he does not go and get 
knocked over as Chamberlain did. 

" General Wilson has been down for some days, but is now better, 
but nervous and over-anxious about trifles. . . . These men are, 
personally, as brave as lions, but they have not big hearts or heads 
enough for circumstances of serious responsibility. . . . 

August llih. — Talking of jealousies, one day, under a heavy fire, 

Captain came up to me, and begged me to forget and forgive 

what had passed, and only to remember that we were soldiers fight- 
ing together in a common cause. As I was the injured party, I could 
afford to do this. The time and place, as well as his manner, ap- 
pealed to my better feelings, so I held out my hand at once. Nowa- 
days, we must stand by and help each other, forget all injuries, and 
rise superior to them, or God help us! we should be in terrible 
plight." 

August 12th,. — A brilliant affair under Showers ; four guns 



BOLD STROKE AT EOHTUCK. 35 

taken. Brave young Owen wounded, " riding astride one 
gun, and a soldier with musket and fixed bayonet riding each 
horse, the rest cheering like mad things. I was in the thick 
of it, hy accident." 

By this time, Pandy, having been beaten severely in twenty- 
three fights, has had nearly enough of it, and is very chary of 
doing more than firing long shots, so there is no longer so 
much need of our Lieutenant in camp. He may surely be 
useful in clearing the neighborhood and restoring British rule 
and order ; so we find him starting for Rohtuck, on 1 7th Au- 
gust, with three hundred men and five officers, — all his own 
men, and first-rate, — and Macdowell, two Goughs, Ward, and 
Wise. On the 18th the inhabitants send supplies and fair 
words, but there is a body of a thousand infantry and three 
hundred horse close by, who must be handled. Accordingly, 
they are drawn into the open by a feigned retreat, and come 
on firing and yelling in crowds. 

" Threes about and at them ; " five parties, each headed 
by an officer, are upon them. " Never was such a scatter ; 
they fled as if not the Guides and Hodson's Horse, but death 
and the devil, were at their heels." Only eight of my men 
touched. This will encourage my new hands, utterly un- 
trained. 

Another skirmish, and now — 

" In three daj^s we have frightened away and demoralized a force 
of artillery, cavalrj', and infantry, some two thousand strong, beat 
those who stood or returned to fight us, twice, in spite of numbers, 
and got fed and furnished forth by the rascally town itself. More- 
over, we have thoroughly cowed the whole neighborhood, and given 
them a taste of what more they will get unless they keep quiet in 
future. . . . This is a terribly egotistical detail, and I am thoroughly 
ashamed of saying so much of myself; but you insisted on having a 
fuU, true, and particular account, so do not think me vainglorious.'' 

Next come orders, but sadly indefinite ones, to look out for 
and destroy the 10th Light Cavalry, who are out in the Jheend 
district : — 

" He must either say distinctly ' do this or that,' and I will do it ; 



36 IN DELHI. 

or he must give me carte blanche to do what he wants in the most 
practicable way, of which I, knowing the country, can best judge. 
I am not going to fag ray men and horses to death, and then be told I 
have exceeded my instructions. He gives me immense credit for 
what I have done, but ' almost wishes I had not ventured so far.' The 
old gentleman means well, but does not understand either the country 
or the position I was in, nor does he appreciate a tenth part of the 
effects which our bold stroke at Rohtuck, forty-five miles from camp, 
has produced. ^NHm.pm-te,'' they will find it out sooner or later. I 
hear both Chamberlain and Nicholson took my view of the case, and 
supported me warmly. ... I foresee that I shall remain a subal- 
tern, and the easy-going majors of brigade, aides-de-camp, and staff- 
officers will all get brevets." 

Too true, my Lieutenant. 

' The Victoria Cross, I confess, is the highest object of my ambi- 
tion, and had I been one of Fortune's favorites, I should have had it 
ere now." 

True again. 

" But, whether a lieutenant or lieutenant-general, I trust I shall con- 
tinue to do my duty to the best of my judgment and ability, as long 
as strength and sense are vouchsafed to me." 

We trust, and are on the whole by this time prepared to 
hazard a prophecy, that you will so continue, whether lieuten- 
ant or general. 

August 26ih. — A glorious victory at Nujjufghur, by Nichol- 
son. I was not there. Ill in camp ; worse luck. . . . Scour- 
ing the country again till August 30th, when I have to receive 
an emissary from Delhi to treat. 

Sir Colin Campbell is, they say, at Calcutta, and Mansfield, 
as chief of the staff; so now we may get some leading. 

We are in Delhi at last (September 15th), but with grievous 
loss. My dear old regiment (1st Fusileers) suffered out of all 
proportion. 

" Of the officers engaged only Wriford, Wallace, and I are un- 
touched. My preservation (I don't like the word escape) was mirac- 
ulous." ... 



CAPTURE OF THE KING. 37 

Nicholson dangerously hit; ten out of seventeen engineer 
officers killed or wounded. 

. . . " ' You may count our real officers on your fingers now.' 

" Sept. IQth. — I grieve much for poor Jacob ; we buried him and 
three sergeants of the regiment, last night; he was a noble soldier. 
His death has made me captain, the long wished-for goal; but I 
would rather have served on as a subaltern than gained promotion thus. 

" Sept. Vdth. — We are making slow progress in the city. The fact 
is, the troops are utterly demoralized by hard work, and hard drink, I 
grieve to say. For the first time in my life, I have had to see English 
soldiers refuse, repeatedly, to follow their officers. Greville, Jacob, 
Nicholson, and Speke were all sacrificed to this. 

" Sept. 21d. — In the Eoyal Palace, Delhi. — I was quite unable to 
write yesterday, having had a hard day's work. I was fortunate 
enough to capture the King and his favorite wife. To-day, more 
fortunate still, I have seized and destroyed the King's two sons and a 
grandson (the famous, or rather infamous, Abu Bukt), the villains 
who ordered the massacre of our women and children, and stood by 
and witnessed the foul barbarity; their bodies are now lying on the 
spot where those of the unfortunate ladies were exposed. I am very 
tired, but very much satisfied with my day's work, and so seem all 
hands." 

This is Hodson's account of the two most remarkable ex- 
ploits in even his career. We have no space to give his own 
full narrative, which he writes later, upon being pressed to do 
so ; or the graphic account of Macdowell, his lieutenant, which 
will be found in the book, and it would be literary murder to 
.mutilate such gems. As to defending the shooting of the two 
princes, let those do it who feel that a defence is needed, for 
we believe that no Englishman, worth convincing, now doubts 
as to the righteousness and policy of the act, and probably the 
old Radical general-officer and M. P., who thought it his duty 
to <;all Hodson hard names at the time, has reconsidered his 
opinion. Whether he has or not, however, matters little. He 
who did the deed, and is gone, cared not for hasty or false 
tongues, — why should we ? 

" Strange," he says, " that some of those who are loudest against 
me for sparing the King, are also crying out at ray destroying his sons. 
' Quousque tandem? ' I may well exclaim. But, in point of fact, I 



38 GOES TO UMBALA. 

am quite indifferent to clamor either way. I made up my mind, at 
the time, to be abused. I was convinced I was right, and when I 
prepared to run the great physical risk of the attempt, I was equally 
game for the moral risk of praise or blame. These have not been, 
and are not times when a man who would serve his country dare hes- 
itate, as to the personal consequences to himself, of what he thinks his 
duty." 

" By Jove, Hodson, they ought to make you Commander-in- 
Chief for this," shouts the enthusiast to whom the prisoners 
were handed over. " Well, I'm glad you have got him, but I 
never expected to see either him or you again," says the Com- 
mander-in-Chief, and sits down and writes the following des- 
patch : — 

" The King, who accompanied the troops for some short distance 
last night, gave himself up to a party of Irregular Cavalry, whom I 
sent out in the direction of the fugitives, and he is now a prisoner 
under a guard of European soldiers." 

Delhi is ours ; but at what a cost in officers and men ! and 
Nicholson is dead. 

" With the single exception of my ever revered friend. Sir Henry 
Lawrence, and Colonel Mackeson, I have never met his equal in field 
or council; he was preeminently our best and bravest, and his loss is 
not to be atoned for in these days. 

" The troops have behaved with singular moderation towards 
women and children, considering their provocation. I do not believe, 
and I have some means of knowing, that a single woman or child has 
been purposely injured by our troops, and the story on which your 
righteous indignation is grounded is quite false ; the troops have been 
demoralized by drink, but nothing more." 

In November he gets a few weeks' leave, and is off to 
Unibala to meet his wife for the last time, safe after all, and no 
longer a lieutenant under a cloud. What a meeting must that 
have been. 

With the taking of Delhi our narrative, already too long, 
must close, though a grand five months of heroic action 
still remained. Nothing in the book exceeds in interest 
the ride of ninety-four miles from Seaton's column, with 
young Macdowell, to carry a despatch to Sir Colin, on De- 



ANECDOTES. 39 

cember SOtli. The tale of the early morning summons, the 
rumors of enemies on the road, the suspense as to the Chief's 
■whereabouts, the leaving all escort behind, their flattering and 
cordial reception by Sir Colin, (who gets them " chops and 
ale in a quiet friendly way,") the fifty-four miles' ride home, 
the midnight alarm and escape, and the safe run in, take away 
our breath. And the finish is inimitable. 

" All Hodson said," writes Macdowell, " when we were at Bewar, 
and safe, was ' By George ! Mac, I'd give a good deal for a cup of 
tea,' and immediately went to sleep. He is the coolest hand 1 have 
ever yet met. We rode ninety-four miles. Hodson rode seventy-two 
on one horse, the little dun, and I rode Alma seventy-two miles also." 

One more anecdote, however, we cannot resist. On the 
6th of January, 1858, Seaton's column joins the Commander- 
in-Chief; on the 27th, at Shumshabad, poor young Macdowell 
(whose letters make one love him) is killed, and Hodson badly 
wounded. They were in advance, as usual, with guns, and 
had to charge a superior body of cavalry : — 

" But there was nothing for it but fighting, as, had we not attacked 
them, they would have got in amongst our guns. We were only three 
oflBcers, and about one hundred and eighty horsemen, — my poor 
friend and second in command, Macdowell, having received a mortal 
wound a few minutes before we charged. It was a terrible melee for 
some time, and we were most wonderfully preserved. However, we 
gave them a very proper thrashing, and killed their leaders. Two 
out of the three of us were wounded, and five of my men killed and 
eleven wounded, besides eleven horses. My horse had three sabre- 
cuts, and I got two, which I consider a rather unfair share. The 
Commander-in-Chief is very well satisfied, I hear, with the day's 
work, and is profusely civil and kind to me." 

In another letter he writes : — 

" They were very superior in number, and individually so as horse- 
men and swordsmen, but we managed to ' whop ' them all the same, 
and drive them clean off the field; not, however, until they had made 
two very pi-etty dashes at us, which cost us some trouble and very 
hard fighting. It was the hardest thing of the kind in which I ever 
was engaged in point of regular ' in fighting,' as they say in the 
P. R. ; only BelVs Life could describe it properly. I got a cut, 



40 MORTALLY WOUNDED. 

which laid my thumb open, from a fellow after my sword was through 
him, and about half an hour later this caused me to get a second se- 
vere cut, which divided the muscles of the right arm, and put me 
hors de combat ; for my grip on the sword-handle was weakened, and 
a demon on foot succeeded in striking down my guard, or rather his 
tulwar glanced off my guard on to my arm. My horse, also, got three 
cuts. I have got well most rapidly, despite an attack of erysipelas, 
which looked verj^ nasty for three days, and some slight fever; and I 
have every reason to be thankful." 

He is able, notwithstanding wounds, to accompany the 
forces, Colonel Burn kindly driving him in his dog-cart. 
Nothing could exceed Sir Colin's kind attentions. Here is a 
chief, at last, who can appreciate a certain captain, late lieu- 
tenant under a cloud. The old chief drinks his health as 
colonel, and, on Hodson's doubting, says : — 

" I will see that it is all arranged; just make a memorandum of 
your services during the Punjaub war, and I venture to prophesy that 
it will not be long before I shake hands with you as Lieutenant- 
Colonel Hodson, C.B., with a Victoria Cross to boot." 

By the end of February he is well, and in command of his 
regiment again, and in his last fight saves the life of his adju- 
tant, Lieut. Gough, by cutting down a rebel trooper in the very 
act of spearing him. 

And now comes the end. For a week the siege had gone 
on, and work after work of the enemy had fallen. On the 
11th of March the Begum's Palace was to be assaulted. Hod- 
son had orders to move his regiment nearer to the walls, and 
while choosing a spot for his camp heard firing, rode on, and 
found his friend Brigadier Napier directing the assault. He 
joined him, saying, " I am come to take care of you ; you 
have no business to go to work without me to look after you." 
They entered the breach together, were separated in the melee, 
and in a few minutes Hodson was shot through the chest. The 
next morning the wound was declared to be mortal, and he 
sent for Napier to give his last instructions. 

" He lay on his bed of mortal agonj%" says this friend, " and met 
death with the same calm composure which so much distinguished 
him on the field of battle. He was quite conscious and peaceful, oc- 



DEATH AT LUCKNOW. 41 

casionally uttering a sentence, ' My poor wife,' ' My poor sisters.' ' I 
should have liked to have seen the end of the campaign and gone 
home to the dear ones once more, but it was so ordered.' ' It is hard 
to leave the world just now, when success is so near, but God's will 
be done.' ' Bear witness for me that I have tried to do my duty to 
man. May God forgive my sins, for Christ's sake.' 'I go to my 
Father.' 'My love to my wife, — tell her my last thoughts were of 
her.' ' Lord receive my soul.' These were his last words, and with- 
oiit a sigh or struggle his pure and noble spirit took its flight." 

'' It was so ordered." They were his own words ; and now 
that the first anguish of his loss is over, will not even those 
nearest and dearest to him acknowledge " it was ordered for 
the best ? " For is there not something painful to us in calcu- 
lating the petty rewards which we can bestow upon a man who 
has done any work of deliverance for his country ? Do we 
not almost dread — eagerly as we may desire his return — to 
hear the vulgar, formal phrases which are all we can devise to 
commemorate the toils and sufferings that we think of with 
most gratitude and affection ? There is somewhat calming 
and soothing in the sadness which follows a brave man to his 
grave in the very place where his work was done, just when it 
was done. Alas, but it is a bitter lesson to learn, even to us 
his old schoolfellows, who have never seen him since we parted 
at his " leaving breakfast." May God make us all braver and 
truer workers at our own small tasks, and worthy to join him, 
the hard fighter, the glorious Christian soldier and Englishman, 
when our time shall come. 

On the next day, March 13th, he was carried to a soldier's 
grave, in the presence of the head-quarters, staflT, and of Sir 
Colin, his last chief, who writes thus to his widow : — 

" I followed j^our noble husband to the grave myself, in order to 
mark, in the most public manner, my regret and esteem for the most 
brilliant soldier under my command, and one whom I was proud to 
call my friend." 

What living Englishman can add one iota to such praise 
from such lips ? The man of whom the greatest of English 
soldiers could thus speak, needs no mark of official approba- 
tion, though it is a burning disgrace to the authorities that 



42 MONUMENTS. 

none such has been given. But the family which mourns its 
noblest son may be content with the rewards which his gallant 
life and glorious death have won for him and them, — we be- 
lieve that he himself would desire no others. For his brothers- 
in-arms are erecting a monument to him in Lichfield Cathedral; 
his schoolfellows are putting up a window to him, and the other 
Rugbseans who have fallen with him, in Rugby Chapel ; and 
the three regiments of Hodson's Horse will hand down his 
name on the scene of his work and of his death as long as 
Englishmen bear rule in India. And long after that rule has 
ceased, while England can honor brave deeds and be grateful 
to brave men, the heroes of the Indian mutiny will never be 
forgotten, and the hearts of our children's children will leap 
up at the names of Lawrence, Havelock, and Hodson. 

Thomas Hughes. 



OF 

SIR HENRY LAWRENCE, KC.B. 

THE TRUE CHRISTIAN, THE BRAVE SOLDIER, 

THE FAITHFUL FRIEND, 

THESE EXTRACTS FROM THE LETTERS OP 

ONE WHOM HE TRAINED 

TO FOLLOW IN HIS FOOTSTEPS, AND WHO NOW 

RESTS NEAR HIM AT LUCKNOW, 

^re 3BetifcateIr 
BY THE EDITOR. 



They were lovely and pleasant in their lives, 
And in their deaths they were not divided. 



PREFACE TO THE THIRD EDITION. 



I HAVE now been able to complete the series of 
extracts from my brother's letters, down to the 
morning of the fatal 11th March. The greater 
portion of the Fourth Chapter of Part 11. will be 
found to have been added since the first edition. 

I have to apologize for an inaccuracy in the 
quotation which I gave from Sir Colin Campbell's 
letter on the occasion of my brother's death. A 
correct copy of the letter in full will be found at 
page 398. I have not found it necessary to make 
any other corrections of importance. Cases have 
been pointed out to me, in which officers who 
took part in different operations described, and 
did good service, are not mentioned by name ; 
but I felt that I could not supply any such omis- 
sions, without taking upon myself a responsibility 
which I have disclaimed. 

It was very natural that my brother, in writing 
to his wife, should make especial mention of those 
in whom she was interested. It is probable, too, 
that in some cases, subsequent information would 
have modified views expressed at the moment, but 



46 PREFACE TO THE THIRD EDITION. 

I have adhered to the principle of giving his let- 
ters as they were written day by day. 

The favorable reception given to the former 
editions of this work, has quite satisfied me that 
I was not wrong in supposing that my brother's 
character only required to be known, in order to 
be estimated as it deserved, by Englishmen of 
every class and profession. 

CooKHAM Deane, July, 1859. 



PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION. 



It can scarcely be needful to make any apology 
for offering to the public this record of one who 
has attracted to himself so large a measure of 
attention and admiration. Many, both in this 
country and in India, have expressed, and I doubt 
not many others have felt, a desire to know more 
of the commander of Hodson's Horse, and captor 
of the King of Delhi and his sons. 

My original intention was to have compiled 
from my brother's letters merely an account of the 
part he bore in the late unhappy war. I very 
soon, however, determined to extend the work, so 
as to embrace the whole of his life in India. 

I felt that the public would naturally inquire 
by what previous process of training he had ac- 
quired, not merely his consummate skill in the 
great game of war, but his experience of Asiatics 
and marvellous influence over their minds. 

The earlier portions of this book will serve to 
answer such inquiries ; they will show the gradual 
development of my brother's character and pow- 
ers, and that those exploits which astonished the 



48 PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION. 

world by their skill and daring, were but the natu- 
ral results of the high idea of the soldier's profes- 
sion which he proposed to himself, honestly and 
consistently worked out during ten years of train- 
ing, in perhaps the finest school that ever existed 
for soldiers and administrators. They will explain 
how it was that, in the midst of a struggle for the 
very existence of our empire, he was able to call 
into being and bring into the field around Delhi 
an " invincible and all but ubiquitous " body of 
cavalry. 

The dragon's teeth which came up armed men, 
had been sown by him long before in his earlier 
career in the Punjaub. There, by many a deed of 
daring and activity, by many a successful strata- 
gem and midnight surprise, by many a desperate 
contest, he had taught the Sikhs, first to dread him 
as an enemy, and then to idolize him as a leader. 
Already in 1849 the Governor- General had had 
" frequent occasions of noticing not only his per-' 
sonal gallantry, but the activity, energy, and in- 
telligence with which he discharged whatever du- 
ties M^ere intrusted to him." Even then the name 
of Hodson, although unknown in England, except 
to the few who watched his course with the eyes 
of affection, was a sound of terror to the Sikhs, and 
a bugbear to their children. In 1852 he earned 
this high praise from one best qualified to judge : 
" Lieutenant Hodson, marvellously attaching the 
Guides to himself by the ties of mutual honor, 
mutual daring, and mutual devotion, has on every 



PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION. 49 

opportunity proved that the discipline of a public 
school and subsequent University training are no 
disqualification for hazardous warfare, or for the 
difficult task of keeping wild tribes in check." 

The title given to this book will sufficiently in- 
dicate the principle on which, particularly in the 
first part, I have made selections from my broth- 
er's letters. My object has been to show what a 
soldier's life in India may be, and what in his case 
it was ; how wide and varied is the field which it 
opens for the exercise of the highest and noblest 
qualities, intellectual and moral, of our nature ; 
and how magnificently he realized and grasped 
the conception. 

His letters, written in all the freedom of unre- 
served intercourse, will give a truer notion of his 
character than the most labored description ; they 
exhibit the undercurrent of deep feelings that ran 
through even his most playful moods, the yearn- 
ing after home that mingled with the dreams of 
ambition and the thirst for the excitement of war, 
the almost womanly tenderness that coexisted 
with the stern determination of the soldier. They 
show that though his lot was cast in camps, he 
was not a mere soldier ; though a hanger-on on 
the outskirts of civilization amidst wild tribes, he 
had a keen appreciation of the refinement and 
elegancies of civilized life ; that though in India, 
he remembered that he was an Englishman ; that 
though living amongst the heathen, he did not 
forget that he was a Christian. 



50 PEEFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION. 

I have not attempted to write a biography, 
but have allowed my brother to speak for him- 
self, merely supplying such connecting links as 
seemed absolutely necessary. 

Indeed, I could do no otherwise ; for unhappily, 
during the twelve years of his soldier's life, — those 
years in which his character received its mature 
development," — I knew him only by his letters, 
or by the reports of others ; when we parted on 
board the ship that carried him from England, in 
1845, we parted to meet no more in this world. 
My recollections of him, vivid as they are, are not 
of the leader of men in council and the battle- 
field, but of the bright and joyous boy, the life 
of the home circle, the tender and affectionate 
son, the loving brother, the valued friend, the 
popular companion. 

Of what he became afterwards my readers will 
have the same means of judging as myself. He 
seems to me to have been one of whom not only 
his family, but his country may well be proud, — 
a worthy representative of the English name and 
nation amongst the tribes of India, an imperson- 
ation of manly straightforwardness, and unhesi- 
tating daring, and irresistible power. 

I cannot doubt but that the verdict of his 
countrymen will confirm my judgment. 

Many too, I believe, wiU agree with me in 
thinking that these pages prove that the poetry 
and romance of war are not yet extinct, that even 
the Enfield rifle has not reduced all men to a 



PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION. 51 

dead level, but that there is still a place to be 
found for individual prowess, for the lion heart, 
and the e^gle eye, and the iron will. One seems 
transported back from the prosaic nineteenth cen- 
tury to the ages of romance and chivalry, and to 
catch a glimpse, now of a Paladin of old, now of 
a knightly hero sans peur et sans reproche ; now, 
of a northern chieftain, " riding on border foray," 
now of a captain of free-lances ; yet all dissolving 
into a Christian soldier of our own day. 

Most striking of aU, it has appeared to me, is 
the resemblance to the romantic career of that 
hero of the Spanish ballads, who, by his many 
deeds of heroic daring, gained for himself the dis- 
tinguished title of " El de las Hazanas," — " He 
of the exploits." Those who are acquainted with 
the chronicles of the Conquest of Granada, will 
almost fancy in reading these pages that they are 
hearing again the story of Fernando Perez del 
Pulgar ; how at one time by a bold dash he rode 
with a handful of followers across a country 
swarming with the enemy, and managed to force 
his way into a beleaguered fortress ; how at another 
he galloped alone up the streets of Granada, then 
in possession of the enemy, to the. gates of the 
principal mosque, and nailed a paper to the door 
with his dagger ; how again he turned the tide of 
battle by the mere charm of his eagle eye and 
thrilling voice, inspiring the most timid with a 
courage equal to his own ; how he made the 
enemy lay down their arms at his word of com- 



52 PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION. 

mand ; how the Moorish mothers frightened their 
children with the sound of his name ; how he 
was not only the harebrained adventm-er, delight- 
ing in peril and thirsting for the excitement of the 
fight, but also the courteous gentleman, the ac- 
complished scholar ; as profound and sagacious in 
the council as he was reckless in the field, and 
frequently selected by the wily Ferdinand to con- 
duct affairs requiring the greatest prudence and 
judgment.* 

It may be, however, that affection has biassed 
my judgment, and that I shall be thought to have 
formed an exaggerated estimate of the grandeur 
and nobleness of the subject of this memoir. 
Even if this be so, I shall not take much to heart 
the charge of having loved such a brother too 
well, and I shall console myself with the thought 
that I have endeavored to do something to perpet- 
uate his memory. 

If, however, any young soldier be induced, by 
reading these pages, to take a higher view of his 
profession, to think of it as one of the noblest 
fields in which he can serve his God and his 
country, and enter on it in a spirit of self-sacri- 
fice, with " duty " as his guiding principle, and a 
determination never to forget that he is a Chris- 
tian soldier and an Englishman, I shall be abun- 
dantly rewarded ; my main object will be attained. 

CooKHAM Deane, December, 1858. 

* See Washington Irving, &c. 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 



PART I. 

CHAPTER I. 

EARLY LIFE — RUGBY — TRINITY COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE — 
GUERNSEY MILITIA pp.57 — 61 

CHAPTER H. 

ARRIVAL IN INDIA — CAMPAIGN ON THE SUTLE J, BATTLES 

OF MOODKEE, FEROZESHAH, SOBRAON OCCUPATION 

OF LAHORE — 1845-6 62—81 

CHAPTER HI. 

FIRST BENGAL EUROPEAN FUSILEERS — CASHMERE WITH 
SIKH ARMY — LAWRENCE ASYLUM — APPOINTMENT 

TO GUIDE CORPS — June, 1846 — Oct. 1847 . 82— 102 
CHAPTER IV. 

EMPLOYMENT IN THE PUNJAUB AS SECOND IN COMMAND 
OP THE CORPS OF GUIDES, AND ALSO AS ASSISTANT 

TO THE RESIDENT AT LAHORE ROAD-MAKING AND 

SURVEYING — CAMPAIGN OF 1848-9 — CAPTURE OF 
FORTS — • BATTLE OF GUJERAT — ANNEXATION OP 
PUNJAUB— Ocf. 1847 — Maro/i, 1849 . . 10.3 — 141 



54 CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER V. 

ANNEXATION OP PUNJAUB — INCREASE OF CORPS OF 
GUIDES AT PESHAWUR — TRANSFER TO CIVIL DEPART- 
MENT AS ASSISTANT COMMISSIONER — April, 1849 

— April, 1850 pp. 142 — 156 

CHAPTER VI. 

TOUR IN CASHMERE AND THIBET WITH SIR HENRY LAW- 
RENCE — TRANSFER TO CIS-SUTLEJ PROVINCES — June, 
1850 — Oct. 1851 157 — 177 

CHAPTER Vn. 

MARRIAGE — COMMAND OF THE GUIDES — PESHAWUR — 
EUZOFZAI — FRONTIER WARFARE — MURDAN — Jan. 

1852— iVbv. 1854 178 — 204 

CHAPTER Vni. 

REVERSES — UNJUST TREATMENT — OFFICIAL ENMITY 

LOSS OF COMMAND — SUPPRESSION OF REPORT — 
RETURN TO REGIMENTAL DUTIES — BETTER PROS- 
PECTS — MA.JOR TAYLOR'S REPORT — TESTIMONY OF 
SIR R. NAPIER — MR. MONTGOMERY — NoV. 1854 — 

May, 1857 205 — 226 



PART II. 

NARRATIVE OF THE DELHI CAMPAIGN, 1857, 1858. 
CHAPTER I. 

OUTBREAK OF REBELLION — MARCH DO ViTN TO DELHI 
FROM DUGSHAI WITH FIRST EUROPEAN BENGAL FU- 
SILEERS — APPOINTMENT TO INTELLIGENCE DEPART- 



CONTENTS. 55 

MENT — RIDE FROM KURNAL TO MEERUT TO OPEN 
COMMUNICATION — ORDER TO RAISE REGIMENT — 
DEATH OF GENERAL ANSON — May lOth — June Sth, 

pp. 227 — 245 

CHAPTER n. 

SIEGE OF DELHI — June — August .... 246 — 306 

CHAPTER m. 

SIEGE OP DELHI, CONTINUED — ROHTUCK EXPEDITION — 
ASSAULT — DELHI TAKEN — CAPTURE OF KING — 
CAPTURE AND EXECUTION OF SHAHZADAHS — August 
17th — Sept. 25th 307 — 359 

CHAPTER IV. 

OPERATIONS IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD OF DELHI — SHOW- 
ERS'S COLUMN — SEATON'S COLUMN — ACTIONS AT 
GUNGEREE, PUTIALEE, MYNPOOREE — RIDE TO COM- 
MANDER-IN-CHIEF'S camp — JUNCTION OF FORCES — 

shumshabad — Oct. — Jan 360 — 418 

CHAPTER V. 

ALUMBAGH, LUCKNOW — THE BEGUM'S PALACE — BANKS's 
HOUSE — THE soldier's DEATH NOTICES — CON- 
CLUDING REMARKS — Feb. — March 12th . 419 — 444 



TWELVE YEARS 



SOLDIER'S LIFE IN INDIA. 



PART L 



CHAPTER L 

EARLY LIFE. RUGBY. CAMBRIDGE. GUERNSEY. 

William Stephen Raikes Hodson, third 
son of Rev. George Hodson, afterwards Arch- 
deacon of Stafford and Canon of Lichfield, was 
born at Maisemore Court, near Gloucester, on 
19th March, 1821. 

As a boy, his affectionate disposition and bright 
and joyous character endeared him greatly to his 
family, and made him a general favorite with all 
around him, old and young, rich and poor. That 
which characterized him most was his quickness 
of observation and his interest in everything going 
on about him. By living with his eyes and ears 
open, and never suffering anything to escape his 
notice, he acquired a stock of practical knowledge 
which he turned to good account in his after-life. 
With the exception of a short time spent with a 
3* 



58 RUGBY. 

private tutor, the Rev. E. Harland, he was edu- 
cated at home till he went to Rugby, in his fif- 
teenth year. Home life, however, had not pre- 
vented him from growing up an active, high- 
spirited boy, full of life and energy. 

His feats of activity at Rugby still live in the 
remembrance of his contemporaries and the tradi- 
tions of the school. The following is an extract 
from a paper in the Book of Rugby School, pub- 
lished in 1856 : — 

Who does not remember the fair-haired, light-complex- 
ioned active man whose running feats, whether in the 
open fields or on the gravel walks of the Close, created 
such marvel among his contemporaries. He has carried 
his hare and hounds into his country's service, and as 
commandant of the gallant corps of Guides, has displayed 
an activity and courage on the wild frontier of the Pun- 
jaub, the natural development of his early prowess at 
Crick and Brownsover. 

A very similar notice appeared in a periodical 
during the recent campaign : — 

The Rugboeans have had their Crick run. Six miles 
over heavy country, there and back, to the school gates 
by the road, is no mean distance to be done in one hour 
twenty-nine minutes. 

There was a day when the gallant leader of HodsorCs 
Horse always led in this run. We think we see " larky 
Pritchard," as he was familiarly designated, in his blue 
cloth jacket, white trousers, his well-known belt, and his 
" golden hair," going in front with his nice easy stride, (for 



EUGBY. 59 

he never had any very great pace, though lie could last 
forever,) and getting back coolly and comfortably to 
" Bons " when the rear hounds were toiling a mile behind. 
There never was such a boy to run over, after second 
lesson, to Dunchurch to see the North Warwickshire, or 
to give himself a " pipe-opener " to Lutterworth and back 
between callings over, till the doctor vowed he would 
injure his heart. How true it is that men who have 
distinguished themselves most in school sports come out 
the best at last. 

It was not, however, only in active sports that 
he showed ability. As head of a house, during 
the later portion of his Rugby life, he gave equal 
indications of " administrative capacity." 

His tutor, (the present Bishop of Calcutta,) 
speaking of his having been transferred to his 
house, in which there were then no praepostors, 
" because, from his energetic character and nat- 
ural ability, he seemed to Dr. Arnold likely to 
give me efficient help," continues : " He gave 
abundant proof that Arnold's choice had been a 
wise one. Though he immediately reestablished 
the shattered prestige of praepositorial power, he 
contrived to make himself very popular with 
various classes of boys. The younger ones 
found in him an efficient protector against bul- 
lying. Those of a more literary turn found in 
him an agreeable and intelligent companion, and 
were fond of being admitted to sit in his study 
and talk on matters of intellectual interest. The 
democrats had got their master, and submitted 



60 CAMBRIDGE. 

with a good grace to power which they could not 
resist, and which was judiciously and moderately 
exercised. The regime was wise, firm, and kind, 
and the house was happy and prosperous. 

" From all that I knew of him, both at Rugby 
and afterwards, I was not surprised at the cour- 
age and coolness which the Times compared 
' to the spirit of a Paladin of old.' I cannot say 
how much I regret that I shall not be welcomed 
in India by the first head of my dear old house 
at Rugby." 

From Rugby my brother went, in October, 
1840, to Trinity College, Cambridge. Here, as 
might have been expected from his previous 
habits, he took an active interest in boating and 
other athletic amusements, while at the same 
time he by no means neglected the more serious 
and intellectual pursuits of the University. He 
had a very considerable acquaintance with, and 
taste for, both classical and general literature, 
but a constitutional tendency to headache very 
much stood in the way of any close application 
to books ; and, after he had taken his degree in 
1844, was one strong reason for his deciding on 
an active rather than a studious life. The Indian 
army seemed to offer the best opening, but while 
waiting for a cadetship, in order to prevent super- 
annuation he obtained, through the kind intro- 
duction of Lord de Saumarez, a commission in 
the Guernsey Militia from Major-General W. 
Napier, the Lieutenant-Governor, and there com- 



GUERNSEY MILITIA. 61 

menced his military life. From the first he felt 
that the profession of a soldier was one that 
required to be studied, and took every opportu- 
nity of mastering its principles. 

On his leaving Guernsey to enter the Hon. 
East India Company's service, Major- General 
W. Napier bore this testimony to his character : 
" I think he will be an acquisition to any service. 
His education, his ability, his zeal to make him- 
self acquainted with military matters, gave me 
the greatest satisfaction during his service with 
the militia." 



CHAPTER 11. 

ARRIVAL IN INDIA. — CAMPAIGN ON THE SUTLEJ, 

1845-46. 

My brother landed at Calcutta on the 13th of 
September, 1845, and, with as little delay as pos- 
sible, proceeded up the country to Agra, where he 
found a hearty welcome beneath the hospitable 
roof of the Hon. James Thomason, Lieutenant- 
Governor of the Northwest Provinces, an old 
family friend and connection, who, from that time 
to his death, treated him with as much affection, 
and took as deep an interest in his career, as if 
he had been his own son. 

He was appointed to do duty with the 2d 
Grenadiers, then forming a part of the Governor- 
General's escort, and, accordingly, left Agra on 
November 2d. In the following letter he de- 
scribes his first impressions of camp life in an 
Indian army. 

After mentioning a delay caused by an attack 
of fever and dysentery, on his way to the camp, 
he proceeds : — 

I was able, however, to join the Grenadiers at four 
o'clock on the morning of the 7th, and share their dusty 



CAMP. 63 

march of ten miles to the village near which the Govern- 
or-General's camp was pitched. Since that day we have 
been denizens of a canvas city of a really astonishing ex- 
tent, seeing that it is the creation of a few hours, and 
shifts with its enormous population, some ten or fifteen 
miles a day. I wonder more every day at the ease and 
magnitude of the arrangements, and the varied and inter- 
esting pictures continually before our eyes. Soon after 
four A. M., a bugle sounds the reveille, and the whole mass 
is astir at once. The smoke of the evening fii'es has by 
this time blown away, and everything stands out clear 
and defined in the bright moonlight. The Sepoys, too, 
bring the straw from their tents, and make fires to warm 
their black faces on all sides, and the groups of swarthy 
redcoats stooping over the blaze, with a white background 
of canvas, and the dark clear sky behind all, produce a 
most picturesque effect as one turns out into the cold. 
Then the multitudes of camels, horses, and elephants, in 
all imaginable groups and positions, — the groans and 
cries of the former as they stoop and kneel for their bur- 
dens, the neighing of hundreds of horses mingling with 
the shouts of the innumerable servants and their masters' 
calls, the bleating of sheep and goats, and louder than all, 
the shrill screams of the Hindoo women, almost bewilder 
one's senses as one treads one's way through the canvas 
streets and squares to the place where the regiment as- 
sembles outside the camp. 

A second bugle sounds "the assembly." There is a 
blaze of torches from the Governor's tents ; his palan- 
quin carriage, drawn by four mules, and escorted by jin- 
gling troopers, trots to the front. The artillery thunder 
forth the moi'ning gun, as a signal that the great man is 
gone, — the guns rattle by, — the cavalry push on after 



64 CAMP. 

them, — and then at length our band strikes up. " For- 
ward" is the word, and the red (and black) column moves 
along, by this time as completely obscured by the dense 
clouds of dust as though they were in London during a 
November fog. We are not expected to remain with our 
men, but mount at once, and ride in a cluster before the 
band, or ride on a quarter of a mile or so, in twos and 
threes, complaining of the laziness of the great man's 
people, and of the dust and cold, as if we were the most 
ill-used of her Majesty's subjects. As soon as we're off 
the ground, and the road pretty clear, I dismount, and 
walk the first eight miles or so, this being the time to 
recover one's powers of locomotion. The cold is really 
very great, especially in the hour before sunrise, — gener- 
ally about one and a half or two hours after we start. It 
soon gets warm enough to make one glad to ride again, 
and by the time the march is over, and the white city is 
in sight, the heat is very great, though now diminishing 
daily. It is a sudden change of temperature, truly, — 
from near freezing at starting, to 90° or 100° at arriving; 
and it is this, I think, which makes us feel the heat so 
much in this climate. In the daytime we get on very 
well ; the heat seldom exceeding 86°, and often not more 
than 84° and 82° in tents. It sounds hot, but a house or 
tent at 84° is tolerably endurable, especially if there is a 
breeze. My tent is twelve feet square inside, and con- 
tains a low pallet bed, a table, chair, two camel trunks, 
and brass basin for washing. I will get a sketch of the 
camp to send you. 

Nov. ISth. — This nomad life is agreeable in many 
respects, and very healthy, and one sees a great deal 
of the country, but it destroys time rather, as the 
march is not over, generally, till half-past nine or ten, 



CAMP. fio 

and then breakfast, a most eagerly desired composition, 
and dressing afterwards, do not leave much of the day 
before the cool evening comes for exercise, or sight- 
seeing and dining, and by nine most of us are in bed, 
or near it. 

Dec. 2. — Umbala. — We had a short march of six milea 
into Umbala this morning, and I got leave from our colo- 
nel to ride on and see the troops assemble to greet the Gov- 
ernor-General. I never saw so splendid a sight: 12,000 
of the finest troops were drawn up in one line, and as I 
rode slowly along the whole front, I had an excellent op- 
portunity of examining the varied materials of an Indian 
army. First were the English Horse Artillery ; then the 
dashing dragoons of the 3d Queen's, most splendidly 
mounted and appointed ; then came the stern, determined- 
looking British footmen, side by side with their tall and 
swarthy brethren from the Ganges and Jumna, — the 
Hindoo, the Mussulman, and the white man, all obeying 
the same word, and acknowledging the same common tie ; 
next to these a large brigade of guns, with a mixture of 
all coloi's and creeds ; then more regiments of foot, the 
whole closed up by the regiments of native caA^alry : 
the quiet-looking and English-dressed Hindoo troopers 
strangely contrasted with the wild Irregulars in all the fan- 
ciful ^*?^uniformity of their native costume ; yet these last 
are the men / fancy for service. Altogether, it was a 
most interesting sight, either to the historian or soldier, 
especially as one remembered that these were no men of 
parade, but assembled here to be poured across the Sutlej 
at a word. 

The " pomp and circumstance " of war were 
soon to be exchanged for its stern realities, as will 



66 SUTLEJ CAMPAIGN. 

be seen in the following letter to his father, dated 
Christmas Day, 1845 : — 

Camp, Sultanpook. 
I take the first day of rest we have had, to write a few 
hurried hnes to reheve you from any anxiety you may 
have felt at not hearing from me by the last mails, or 
from newspaper accounts, which will, I fear, reach you 
before this letter can. I am most thankful to be able to 
sit down once more to write to you all but unharmed. 
Since I wrote, I have been in four general engagements 
of the most formidable kind ever known in India. For 
the first time we had to contend with a brave and uncon- 
quered people, disciplined, and led on like our own troops 
by European skill ; and the result, though successful to 
our arms, has been fearful indeed as to carnage. You will 
see accounts in the papers giving details more accurate 
than I can possibly furnish, both of our wonderfully rapid 
and fatiguing marches, and of the obstinate and bloody 
resistance we met with. On the 10th of this month, on 
our usual quiet march to Sirhind with the Governor-Gen- 
eral's camp, we were surprised by being joined by an ad- 
ditional regiment, and by an order for all non-soldiers to 
return to Umbala. From that day we have had the 
fatigues and exertions of actual warfare in their broadest 
forms, — marching day and night unprecedented distances, 
scarcity of sleep and food, and all the varieties of cold 
and heat. I enjoyed all, and entered into it with great 
zest, till we came to actual blows, or rather, I am {novi) 
half ashamed to say, tiU the blows were over, and I saw 
the horrible scenes which ensue on war. I have had 
quite enough of such sights now, and hope it may not be 
my lot to be exposed to them again. Our loss has been 
most severe, especially in officers. Our Sepoys could not 



SUTLEJ CAMPAIGN. 67 

be got to face the tremendous fire of the Sikh artillery, 
and, as usual, the more they quailed, the more the Eng- 
lish officers exposed themselves in vain efforts to bring 
them on. The gi'eatest destruction was, however, among 
the Governor- General's staff, — only two (his own son 
and Colonel Benson) escaped death or severe wounds. 
They seemed marked for destruction, and certainly met it 
most gallantly. On the 15th we joined the Commander- 
in-Chief, with his troops from Umbala, were put off escort 
duty, and joined General Gilbert's division. On the 17th 
we had a march of thirty miles, (in the daytime, too,) 
with scanty food; on the 18th, after a fasting march of 
twenty-five miles, we were summoned, at half-past four in 
the afternoon, to battle, which lasted till long after dark. 
Almost the first shot which greeted our regiment killed 
the man standing by my side, and instantly afterwards I 
was staggered by a ball from a frightened Sepoy behind 
me grazing my cheek and blackening my face with the 
powder, — so close was it to my head ! We were within 
twenty, and at times ten, yards of three guns blazing 
grape into us, and worse than all, the bushes with which 
the whole ground was covered were filled with marksmen 
who, unseen by us, could pick us off at pleasure. No 
effiDrts could bring the Sepoys forward, or half the loss 
might have been spared, had they rushed on with the 
bayonet. We had three officers wounded out of our 
small party, and lost many of the men. We were biv- 
ouacked on the cold ground that night, and remained un- 
der arms the whole of the following day. Just as we 
were going into action, I stumbled upon poor Carey, 
whom you may remember to have heard of at Price's, at 
Rugby. On going over the field on the 30th, I found the 
body actually cut to pieces by the keen swords of the 



68 SUTLEJ CAMPAIGN. 

Sikhs, and but for his clothes could not have recognized 
him. I had him carried into camp for burial, poor fellow, 
extremely shocked at the sudden termination of our re- 
newed acquaintance. On Sunday, the 21st, we marched 
before daybreak in force to attack the enemy, who had 
intrenched themselves behind their formidable artillery. 
The action began in the afternoon, lasted the whole night, 
and was renewed with daybreak. They returned again 
to the charge as often as we gained any advantage, and 
it was evening before they were finally disposed of by 
a charge of our dragoons, and our ammunition was ex- 
hausted ! — so near are we m our most triumphant suc- 
cesses to a destruction as complete ! The results are, I 
suppose, in a political point of view, immense indeed. 
We took from them neai'ly one hundred large guns, and 
routed their vast army, pi-epared, had they succeeded in 
beating us, to overrun Hindostan ; and it must be owned 
they had nearly succeeded ! It will scarcely be believed, 
but they had actually purchased and prepared supplies as 
far into the interior of our country as Delhi, and unknown 
to our authorities ; and the whole of Northern India was, 
as usual, ready to rise upon us at an hour's notice. On 
the evening of the 21st, as we rushed towards the guns, 
in the most dense dust and smoke, and under an unprece- 
dented fire of grape, our Sepoys again gave way and 
broke. It was a fearful crisis, but the bravery of the 
English regiments saved us. The Colonel (Hamilton), 
the greater part of my brother ofiicers, and myself, were 
left with the colors and about thirty men immediately in 
front of the batteries ! Our escape was most providen- 
tial, and is, I trust, thankfully acknowledged by us. A 
ball (from a shell, I fancy) struck my leg below the 
knee, but happily spared the bone, and only inflicted a 



SUTLEJ CAMPAIGN. 69 

flesh wound. I was also knocked down twice, — once by 
a shell bursting so close to me as to kill the men behind 
me, and once by the explosion of a magazine or mine. 
I am most thankful indeed for my escape from death or 
maiming. The wound in my leg is nothing, as you may 
judge when I tell you that I was on foot or horseback 
the whole of the two following days. Last night we 
moved on here about five miles from the scene of action, 
and got some food, and into our beds, after four days and 
nights on the ground, alternately tried with heat and cold 
(now most severe at night), and nothing but an occasional 
mouthful of black native bread. I think, during the four 
days, all I had to eat would not compose half a home 
breakfast-loaf, and for a day and night we had not even 
water ; when we did get water, after driving the enemy 
from their camp, it was found to have been spoiled with 
gunpowder ! It was like eating Leamington water, but 
our thirst was too great to stick at trifles. 

Dec. 2%th. — We are resting here comfortably again in 
our tents, and had a turkey for our Christmas dinner last 
night. The rest is most grateful. We had only nine 
hours in bed out of five nights, and then the next four 
were on the ground. So you see I have come in for the 
realities of a soldier's life pretty early in my career ; and 
since I am spared, it is doubtless a great thing for me in 
every way. There never has been anything like it in 
India, and it is not often that an action anyiohere has 
lasted thirty-six hours as ours did. It is called a succes- 
sion of three engagements, but the firing never ceased for 
a quarter of an hour. Infantry attacking guns was the 
order of the day, and the loss occasioned by such a des- 
perate resort was fearful. How different your Christmas 
week will have been from mine ! This time last year I 



70 SUTLEJ CAMPAIGN. 

was quietly staying at Bisham, and now sleeping on the 
banks of the Sutlej, with a sea of tents around me for 
miles and miles ! The last few days seem a year, and I 
can scarcely believe that I have only been four months in 
India, and only two with my regiment. 



To the Hon. James Thomason, Lieutenant-Governor of 
Northwest Provinces. 

Camp, Boota wallah, January 22c?, 1846. 
There is very much in the state of things in this army 
both discouraging and deeply disappointing to one who 
like myself comes into the service with a strong predilec- 
tion for the profession, and a wish to enter into its duties 
thoroughly and earnestly. I do not like to enter into par- 
ticulars, for I hold it very unmilitary, especially in so 
young a soldier, to attempt to criticize the acts and mo- 
tives of one's superior, but I may in private again ex- 
press my extreme disappointment at the state in which 
the Sepoys are at present, and as far as I can judge from 
what is said in conversation, there are but few officers in 
the army who do not deplore it. In discipline and sub- 
ordination they seem to be lamentably deficient, especially 
towards the native commissioned and non-commissioned 
officers. On the march, I have found these last give me 
more trouble than the men even. My brother officers 
say that I see an unfavorable specimen in the 2d, as re- 
gards discipline, owing to their frequent service of late, 
and the number of recruits ; but I fear the evil is very 
wide-spread. It may no doubt be traced mainly to the 
want of European officers. This, however, is an evil not 
likely to be removed on any large scale. Meantime, un- 



SUTLEJ CAMPAIGN. 71 

less some vigorous and radical impi-ovenients take place, 
I think our position will be very uncertain and even 
alarming in the event of extended hostilities. You must 
really forgive my speaking so plainly, and writing my 
own opinions so freely. You encouraged me to do so 
when I was at Agra, if you remember, and I value the 
privilege too highly as connected with the greater one of 
receiving advice and counsel from you, not to exercise it, 
even at the risk of your thinking me presumptuous and 
hasty in my opinions. I imagine (in my own defence be 
it said) that three months of marching and of service give 
you more insight into the real efficiency or evils of an 
army, than a much longer time spent in cantonments. It 
is, of course, a deeply interesting subject to me, and one 
of deep and anxious reflection. I think the period of 
" doing duty," which I shall have passed ere joining my 
future regiment, of the greatest consequence and benefit, 
as enabling me to form a judgment, to the best of my 
abilities, of the course to be steered in the difficult voy- 
age. It seems to me that the great problem to be solved 
is how " to do your own business" at the same time that 
" you study to he quiet" i. e., how unostentatiously to do 
your appointed duty thoroughly, without being deterred 
by the fear of being thought over-zealous or ostentatious. 

At a later period, when it was proposed to erect 
a monument in Lichfield Cathedral to the 80th 
Queen's, he wrote with reference to their conduct 
in this action : — 

It is, you know, a Staffordshire regiment, having been 
raised originally by the Marquis of Anglesey, and has 
still a great number of Staffordshire ^men in its ranks. It 
is a splendid corps, well-behaved in cantonments, and first- 



72 SOBRAON. 

rate in action. I lay between them and my present regi- 
ment (1st E. B. Fusileers) on the night of the 21st of 
December, at Ferozeshah, when Lord Hardinge called 
out " 80th ! that gun must be silenced." They jumped 
up, formed into line, and advanced through the black 
darkness silently and firmly ; gradually we lost the sound 
of their tread, and anxiously listened for the slightest inti- 
mation of their progress, — all was still for five minutes, 
while they gradually gained the front of the battery whose 
fire had caused us so much loss. Suddenly we heard a 
dropping fire, — a blaze of the Sikh cannon followed, 
then a thrilling cheer from the 80th, accompanied by a 
rattling and murderous volley as they sprang upon the 
battery and spiked the monster gun. In a few more 
minutes they moved back quietly, and lay down as before 
in the cold sand : but they had left forty-five of their 
number and two captains to mark the scene of theii' 
exploit by their graves. 



Camp, Army of the Sutlej, Feb. 12th, 1846. 
The fortune of war has again interfered between me 
and my good intentions of answering all my correspond- 
ence by this mail. We have been knocked about for 
some days so incessantly that there has been no chance 
of writing anything ; and even this scrawl, I fear, will 
hardly reach you. You will hear publicly of our great 
victory of the 10th,* and of the total and final rout of the 
Sikh force. But first, I must tell you that the 2d Gren- 
adiers were sent back about a week ago to the villages 
and posts in our rear, to keep open the communication. 
* At Sobraon. 



SOBRAON. 73 

Not liking the notion of returning to the rear while an 
enemy was in front, I applied immediately to do duty 
with another regiment ; my petition was granted ; and I 
joined the 16th Grenadiers on the evening of the 9th 
inst. About three in the morning we advanced towards 
the Sikh intrenchments along the river's bank. Our 
guns and ammunition had all come up a day or two be- 
fore, and during the night were placed in position to shell 
their camp. At daybreak, seventeen heavy mortars and 
howitzers, rockets, and heavy guns commenced a mag- 
nificent fire on their position ; at half-past eight the in- 
fantry advanced, — Sir R. Dick's division on the right, 
and ours (Gilbert's) in front, — covered by our fire from 
the batteries. On we went as usual in the teeth of a 
dreadful fire of guns and musketry, and after a desperate 
struggle we got within their triple and quadruple intrench- 
ments; and then their day of reckoning came indeed. 
Driven from trench to trench, and surrounded on all 
sides, they retired, fighting most bravely, to the river, 
into which they were driven pell-mell, a tremendous fixe 
of musketry pouring on them from our bank, and the 
Horse Artillery finishing their destruction with grape. 
The river is literally choked with corpses, and their camp 
full of dead and dying. An intercepted letter of theirs 
shows that they have lost 20,000 in killed, wounded, and 
missing ; all their guns remaining in our hands. I had 
the pleasure myself of spiking two guns which were 
turned on us. Once more I have escaped, I am thankful 
to say, unhurt, except that a bullet took a fancy to my 
little finger and cut the skin off the top of it, — a mere pin 
scratch, though it spoiled a buckskin glove. I am per- 
fectly well ; we cross in a day or two, but I fancy have 
done with fighting. 



74 SUTLEJ CAMPAIGN. 



To his Sister. 

Lahore, Feb. ^.Ith, 1846. 

In honor of your birthday, I suppose, we crossed the 

Sutlej on the 17th, and are now encamped close to old 

Runjeet Singh's capital, without a shot having been fired 

on this side the river ! The war is over : sixty days 

have seen the overthrow of the Sikh army, which, when 

that period commenced, marched from the spot on which 

the victors are now encamped, with no fewer than 100,000 

fighting men, now 

A broken and a routed host, 

Their standards gone, their leaders lost. 

So ends the tale of the mightiest ai'my, and the best or- 
ganized, which India has seen. 

I hope you will have got a scrap I wrote after the fight 
at Sobraou in hopes it would reach you before the news- 
papers, as I have no doubt you were all anxious enough 
on my account, and indeed you well might be, for I can 
hardly imagine (humanly speaking) how it was possible 
to go through that storm of bullets and shot unhurt. I 
have indeed much to be thankful for, and I hope I shall 
not forget the lesson. A campaign is a wonderful dis- 
peller of false notions and young imaginations, and seems 
too stern a hint to be soon forgotten. 

About this time Mr. Thoraason says, in a letter 
to my father : — 

" I hear of William constantly from friends in 
camp, and am glad to find that he is a great fa- 
vorite in his regiment. I had some little fear that 
his great superiority in age and attainments to 
those of his own standing in the army might 



LAHORE. 75 

make him the object of envy and disparagement. 
I felt that he had no easy task before him, and 
that it would be difficult to conduct himself with 
discretion and becoming humility in such a posi- 
tion. He was quite aware of the difficulty when 
we talked the matter over at Agra, and I am 
much pleased to see the success which has at- 
tended his prudent exertions." 

Lahore, March ith, 1846. 

The army breaks up now very soon, but I shall be 
posted before that. I am trying to get into the 1st Euro- 
pean regiment, now stationed at Umbala, who have just 
been styled Fusileers for their distinguished service. It 
is the finest regiment in India, with white faces, too, and 
a very nice set of officers. I have been brigaded with 
them ah along. 

It seems an age since the campaign opened. One day 
of fighting such as we have had fastens itself on the 
memory more than a year of peaceful life. We must 
really have a natural taste for fighting highly developed, 
for I catch myself wishing and " asking for more," and 
grumbling at the speedy settlement of things, and the 
prospect of cantonments instead of field service. Is it not 
marvellous, as if one had not had a surfeit of killing ? 
But the truth is, that is not the motive, but a sort of unde- 
fined ambition I remember bursting into tears in 

sheer rage in the midst of the fight at Sobraon at seeing 
our soldiers lying killed and wounded. Don't let any of my 
friends forget me yet. I have found a new one, I think, 
in Major Lawrence,* the new^ President at this Court, 
thanks to the unwearying kindness of Mr. Thomason. 
* Sir H. Lawrence, K. C. B. 



76 SUTLEJ CAMPAIGN. 

In a letter of the same date to Hon. J. Thoma- 
son", the following sentence occurs : — 

I must thank you very much for making me known 
to Major Lawrence, from whom I have received every 
sort of attention and kindness. I have been very much 
struck with his superiority, and freedom from diplomatic 
solemnity and mystery, which is rather affected by the 
politicals and ofl&cials. 



Camp, Nuggur Ghat, on the Sutlej, 

March 27th, 1846. 

The last returning regiment of the army of the Sutlej 
crossed that river yesterday morning, and by to-morrow 
every man will have left its banks, on their way to their 
stations. It was a most interesting and pictui'esque sight 
to see the army filing across the splendid bi-idge of boats 
constructed by our engineers at this place. So many of 
the native corps have been required for the new province 
and for the Lahore garrison, that we had hardly any but 
Europeans homeward-bound, which gave an additional 
and home interest to the passage of the river. Dusty, 
travel-stained, and tired, but with that cool, firm air of 
determination which is the most marked characteristic of 
English soldiers, regiment after regiment passed on, cav- 
alry, artillery, and infantry in succession, their bands 
playing quicksteps and national tunes, as each stepped 
upon the bridge. To you the sight would have been 
only interesting ; but to those of us who had seen the 
same corps three months ago, their reduced numbers and 
fearfully thinned ranks told a sadder tale. Regiments 



SUTLEJ CAMPAIGN. 77 

cut down to a third, individual companies to a fourth or 
fifth of their former strength, gave a silent but eloquent 
I'eply to the boastful strains of martial music, and to the 
stii'ring influence of the pageant. As each regiment 
moved up on this side the river, our fine old chief ad- 
dressed a few words of congratulation and praise to each ; 
they pushed on to their tents, and a genuine English 
cheer, caught up and repeated from corps to corps, and a 
thundering salute from the artillery, proclaimed the final 
dispersion, and bid an appropriate farewell to the army 
of the Sutlej. 

Thus ends my first campaign ! To-morrow I march 
with the 26th Native Infantry to Umbala, where I hope 
to be transferred to the 1st Europeans. I was posted to 
the 26th a few days ago, but have not joined yet, as I 
applied at once for an exchange. Marching and living 
in tents is becoming unpleasantly hot now, and in another 
fortnight will be very bad. Yesterday we had a regular 
storm of wind and dust, filling everything with sand, and 
darkening the air most effectually; one's mouth, eyes, 
ears, and pockets get filled with dust ; you sit down to 
breakfast, and your plate is ready loaded with sand, your 
coffee is excellently thickened, and your milk would pass 
for clotted cream, — but for the color. Then you get a 
sheet of paper, and vainly imagine you 're writing, but 
the sand conceals the last word you write ere the ink can 
dry, and your pens split of themselves with the dryness 
of the air. In truth, it is next to impossible to do any- 
thing while the storm lasts, for one's eyes smart and cry 
with the plenitude of grit ; and if you talk, you are set 
coughing with eating small stones! Yet all this is far 
better than the damp-exhahng heat of Bengal. Here the 
ground and air are as dry by night as by day, and no 



78 UMBALA. 

exhalation poisons the freshness of any wind that may be 
stirring. 



Umbala, April ISth, 1846. 

Here I am once more. I am writing in a comfortable 
house, and actually slept in one last night, — the first time 
I have eaten or slept under a roof since the 3d of No- 
vember ; and on the 10th I saw a lady again ! 

I find General Napier has written to his brother about 
me. Scindh has been given over to the Bombay army, 
so that Sir Charles can't do anything for me, but still the 
kindness is all the same. Unfortunately, the note reached 
me three days after Sir Charles left the army to return 
to Scindh, or I might have had the pleasure of seeing 
him and speaking to him. 



Camp, Moradabad, Rohilcund, April 29th, 1846. 
It is time indeed to be getting under cover, for we 
have been in the thick of the " hot winds." This sounds 
a very mild word, but you should only just try it ! Do 
you remember ever holding your face over a stove 
when it was full of fire ? and the rush of hot air which 
choked you ? Well, something of that sort, of vast 
volume and momentum, blowing what they call at sea 
" half a gale of wind," comes quietly up, at first behind 
a wall of dust, and then with a roar bursts upon you, 
scorching you, and shrivelling you up as if you were " a 
rose that was plucked." It feels as if an invisible, color- 
less flame was playing over your face and limbs, scorch- 
ing without burning you, and making your skin and hair 



CAMP LIFE. 79 

crackle and stiffen until you are covered with "crack- 
ling " like a hot roast pig. This goes on day after day, 
from about eight or nine o'clock in the morning till sun- 
set ; and, accompanied with the full power of the blazing 
sun of India, produces an amount of heat and dryness 
almost inconceivable. The only resource is to get be- 
hind a tatta (or wet grass mat) hung up at one of the 
doors of the tent, and to lie on the ground with as little 
motion as possible, and endeavor to sleep or read it out. 
Nunc veterum lihris, nunc somno et inertihus horis, — I 
cannot go on, for the " sweet forgetfulness " of the past is 
too much to expect ! To-day we have a new nuisance in 
the shape of a plague of wood-lice ; our camp is pitched in 
an old grove of mango-trees, and is literally swarming 
with huge pale lice, in numbers numberless. You cannot 
make a step without slaying them, and they have already 
(noon) covered the whole sides of the tents, chairs, beds, 
tables, and everything. But one is really getting used to 
everything, and I hardly expect to be proud again. Our 
rest has been terribly destroyed by this last month's 
marching, the usual hour for the reveille being two A. M., 
and this morning a quarter to one ! ! and no power of 
quizzing can move our worthy major to let us take it 
easily, though I don't scruple to tell him that he has sold 
his shadow or his soul to the evil powers, and forfeited 
the power of sleep, he is such a restless animal! We 
breakfast at seven, or even a quarter past six, constantly, 
and dine at seven p. m. ; so one has a fair opportunity of 
practising abstinence, as 1 rigidly abstain from eating in 
the mean time, or drinking. After all, it is very healthy 
weather, and I imagine there is less harm done to the 
health in the hot winds than even in the cold weather. I 
have never been so well in India. 



80 HILL SCENERY. 



Ntnee Tal, May lith, 1846. 
I am writing from the last new Hill Station, discov- 
ered about three years ago by an adventurous traveller, 
and now containing forty houses and a bazaar. It is a 
" tal," or lake, of about a mile in length, lying in a basin 
of the mountains, about 6,200 feet above the sea ; the 
hills rising about 1,800 feet on all sides of it, and beauti- 
fully wooded from their very summits down to the water's 
brink. How I got here remains to be told. You will 
remember that I had applied, some time ago, to be trans- 
ferred to the 1st Bengal European Fusileers. Well, after 
keeping me in suspense some seven weeks, and sending 
me the whole way from Lahore to Bareilly in April and 
May, I received notice that my application was grant- 
ed, and a civil request to go back again. I had had 
enough of marching in the plains, and travelling dak 
would have been madness for me, so I determined on 
going up into the hills, and making my way across the 
mountain ranges to Subathoo, where my regiment is 
stationed. A good-natured civilian at Bareilly offered 
to take me with him to this place, from whence I could 
make a good start. We started on the morning of the 
11th, and drove to Rampoor, stayed there till midnight, 
and then set off for the hills. By daylight we got to the 
edge of the " Terai," the far-famed hotbed of fever and 
tigers, swamps and timber, along the whole ridge of the 
Himalayas, stretching along the plains at their feet in a 
belt of about twenty miles from the Indus to the Bur- 
hampooter. Here we found horses awaiting us, and, 
mounting at once, started for a ride of twenty-seven 
miles before breakfast. The first part of the " Terai " is 
merely a genuine Irish bog, and the oily, watery ditches 



HILL SCENERY. 81 

and starved-looking cows shout out " Fever," on all sides 
of yon. The last ten miles, to the foot of the hills, is 
through a dense mass of ragged trees in all stages of 
growth and decay, " hoi'rida, inculta, hirsuta," — moist, 
unpleasant, and ugly. At length we reached the first 
low woody ranges of the hills, and following the dry bed 
of a mountain stream, hy noon we doubled the last ridge, 
and descended upon our lake. None of these hills are 
to be compared in beauty with Scotland and Wales, 
though very fine, and inexpressibly refreshing, almost 
affecting, after the dead flat we have lived in so long. 
As soon as my servants aiTive, I start hence by myself, 
through an unfrequented sea of vast mountains, by way 
of Landour, for Mussoorie, to Simla and Subathoo. It 
is about 340 miles, and will take me thirty-two or thirty- 
four days to accomplish. I mean to take no pony, but 
trust that my old powers of walking and endurance will 
revive in the mountain air. 



4* 



CHAPTER III. 

FIRST BENGAL EUKOPEAN FUSILEERS. LAWRENCE 

ASTLUM. APPOINTMENT TO GUIDE CORPS. 

SuBATHOO, June 16^/i, 1846. 
When I wrote to you last from Sireenuggur, I hoped 
to have been able to reach this place by way of the hills 
and Simla ; but, before I got to Mussoorie, the early 
setting in of the rains made it so difficult and unpleasant 
(and likely to be dangerous) to get on, that, after spend- 
ing two days there, I rode down to Deyra Dhoon, and 
came dak thi'ough Saharunpoor and Umbala to Kalka, 
at the foot of these hills, where I found my beast await- 
ing my arrival, and mounted the seventeen miles of hill 
at once. Here I am, at last, with my own regiment, and 
with the prospect of being quiet for four months. I am 
eighth Second Lieutenant ; a distinguished position (is it 
not ?) at the age of five-and-twenty. The campaign, I 
am sorry to say, did me no good in the way of promotion, 
owing to my not having been " posted " permanently 
before it commenced. 



SuBATHOO, July Bel, 1846. 
I hope you will congratulate me on getting into my 
present splendid corps, the 1st Fusileers, now, alas, a 



FIRST PliSiLEEUS. 83 

mere shadow of what it was sis months ago. We could 
only muster 256 men under arms when we were in- 
spected by Sir R. Gilbert on the 1st; but, then, there 
was a most picturesque body of convalescents present 
^with their empty sleeves, pale faces, and crutches, but 
looking proudly conscious of their good conduct, and 
ready " to do it again." We are under much stricter 
discipline in this corps, both officers and men, and obliged 
to be orderly and submissive. No bad thing for us either. 
I hold there is more real liberty in being under a decent 
restraint than in absolute freedom from any check. I 
have been much more reconciled to India since I joined 
this regiment. It is pleasant to have white faces about 
one, and hear one's own tongue spoken ; and then, besides, 
there is a home-loving feeling in this corps which I have 
never met with in India. I believe we would each and 
all migrate to England, if we had our own way. 



To Ms Father. 

Simla, Sept. Id, 1846. 

I came here on the 31st for a week, to stay with Major 
Lawrence (now a Colonel and C. B.), who dined and slept 
with me at Subathoo last week, and pressed me to come 
here. I am nothing loth, as I like him amazingly, and 
value his friendship very much, and pick up a great deal 
of information as to India, and Indians black and white. 
He has kindly oifered to take me with him for a tour 
through Jullunder Doab, and up to Jumraoo, Rajah 
Gholab Singh's camp and court. Pie says he can give 
or get me leave to accompany him. My colonel says h.e 
won't give any one leave after the 14tli of this month. 



84 VISIT TO SIMLA. 

Whicli is right remains to be seen, but I think you may 
calculate that the " Agent to the Governor- General " 
will prevail, and I shall see Jummoo. 

I am now writing in his room with the incessant en- 
trances and exits of natives, — rajahs, princes, vakeels, 
&c. &c., and otficers civil and military ; and the buzz of 
business and confusion of tongues, black and white, 
learned and unlearned, on all subjects, political, religious 
(at this minute they are disputing what " the Church " 
means), and military, so that I am tolerably puzzled. I 
have been taking a tremendously long walk this morning 
about the hills and valleys, with Mr. and Mrs. Currie, 
and enjoying the beauties of Simla. 



Simla, Sept. litli, 1846. 
My original week at Simla has grown into a month, 
thanks to Colonel Lawrence's pressing, and Colonel Or- 
chard's (my colonel's) kindness. I should hardly like 
staying so long with Colonel Lawrence, (especially as I 
live day and night in the same room with him and his 
papers, regularly camp fashion,) but that he wishes it, 
and I manage to give him a slight helping hand by mak- 
ing precis of his letters, and copying confidential papers. 
He is amazingly kind, and tells me all that is going on, 
initiating me into the mysteries of " political " business, 
and thus giving me more knowledge of things and persons 
Indian than I should learn in a year of ordinary life, aye ! 
or in three years either. This is a great advantage to 
my ultimate prospects, of course independently of the 
power he possesses of giving me a lift in the world when 
I am of sufficient standing to hold any appointment. 



COLONEL LAWRENCE. 85 

He makes me work at Hindostanee, and has given me 
a lesson or two in the use of the theodolite, and other 
surveying instruments, to the end that I may get em- 
ployed in the Surveying Department, after two years of 
which he says " I shall be fit for a Political." 

I have been very fortunate in many ways, more so than 
I had any right to expect. If I were only nearer to you 
all, and had any old friends about me, I should have 
nothing to regret or wish for. It is there that the shoe 
especially pinches. All minor annoyances are easily got 
rid of, but one does find a wonderful lack of one's old 
friends and old associations. Society is very different 
here from ours at home, and different as it is I have seen 
very little of it. Nor am I, with my previous habits, age, 
and education, the person to feel this an indifferent mat- 
ter ; but on the contrary, all the drawbacks of Indian 
existence come with redoubled force from the greatness 
of the contrast. Still I do not let these things annoy me, 
or weigh down my spirits, but strive, by keeping up Eng- 
lish habits, tastes, and feelings, and looking forward to a 
run home, (thus having a motive always in view,) to 
make the best of everything as it occurs, and to act upon 
the principle, that mere outward circumstances don't 
make a man's happiness. If I have one feeling stronger 
than another, it is contempt for a " regular Indian," a man 
who thinks it fine to adopt a totally different set of habits 
and morals and fashions, until, in forgetting that he is an 
Englishman, he usually forgets also that he is a Chi'istian 
and a gentleman. Such characters are happily rare now, 
but there are many fragments of it on a small scale, and 
always must be so, so long as the men who are to support 
the name and power of England in Asia are sent out 
here at an age when neither by education nor reflection 



86 COLONEL LAWRENCE. 

can they have learnt all or even a fraction of what those 
words imply. It would be a happy thing for India and 
for themselves if all came out here at a more advanced 
age than now, but one alone breaking through the custom 
in that respect made and provided, must not expect to 
escape the usual fate, or at least the usual annoyances, 
of innovators. 

I have enjoyed my visit here very much, and though I 
have not sought them, have made one or two very pleas- 
ant acquaintances, or improved them. I have been very 
little out, and passed my time almost entirely with Colo- 
nel Lawrence and his family, i. e., his brother and the 
two sisters-in-law. Things are not looking well on the 
frontier. Cashmere and the hill country wont submit to 
Gholab Singh, to whom we gave them over, and have 
been thrashing his troops and killing his ministei's ; and I 
expect October will see an army assembled to frighten 
them into submission, or interfere with a strong arm, as 
the case may be. 

We seem bound to see him established on the throne 
we carved out for him, and it is our only chance of keep- 
ing peace and order ; though at the best he is such a 
villain, and so detested, that I imagine it will be but a 
sorry state of quietness : — 

The torrent's smoothness ere it dash beloTv. 

In a letter to his wife, written dming this visit, 
Sir H. Lawrence says : — 

Sept. 1st. — " I brought up with me from Su- 
bathoo a fine young fellow, by name Hodson, son 
of the Archdeacon of Stafford. He is now (10 
p. M.) sleeping in my little office-room, where I 



COLONEL LAWRENCE. 87 

am writing. Thomason recommended him to 
me, and I have seldom met so promising a young 
fellow. He left the native branch of the army 
at the expense of some steps, because he did not 
like the conduct of the Sepoys. He was for four 
years with Dr. Arnold, and two in the sixth form 
under his eye. He speaks most affectionately of 
him. I will try to get leave for him for a month 
to accompany me to Lahore and Jummoo in Oc- 
tober I get a good deal of help from Hod- 
son, who works willingly and sensibly. Perhaps 
you may meet the family at Lichfield." 

Lahoee, October liih, 1846. 

As I hoped when I wrote last, I am again writing 
from the capital of the " Singhs," but, alas for the " lions," 
their tails are very much down in the world since this 
time last year, when the " fierce and formidable army " 
assembled to invade our tempting provinces. Nearly 
half the garrison has marched across the Ravee, and 
not more than 5,000 or 6,000 British troops now hold the 
far-famed capital of Runjeet Singh. 

You must not be alarmed by the accounts you will see 
in the papers by this mail of the advance of two forces 
from Lahore and JuUunder towards Jummoo. They are 
not to take any active part in the operations of Gholab 
Singh for the recovery of Cashmere from the rebellious 
Sheikh Imaumoodeen ; our troops are to hold the Ma- 
hai'aja's country for him while he advances with his 
whole disposable force, augmented by a Sikh auxiliary 
army. 

It is probable that the Sheikh will give in without 



88 JOURNEY TO CASHMERE. 

fighting as soon as he hears the preparations made by 
both powers for his coercion. Indeed, a letter has arrived 
from Cashmere to say he has given in ; but he is a wily 
fellow, and I mightily distrust him. I only know if / 
was in Cashmere with my army at ray back, / would not 
give in as long as a man was left to pull a trigger ! The 
Agent (Colonel Lawrence) and I start to-morrow evening, 
going seventy miles the first day, and hope to reach 
Bhimbur, at the foot of the hills, on the 17th, thence to 
go up and join the Maharaja, and accompany his army to 
Cashmere. If he fights we shall see the fun ; if not, we 
are to accompany him and keep him from excesses and 
injustice in the valley, and return here, I fancy, in about 
a month or six weeks. Of course, in event of the two 
armies coming to blows, it will probably be some time 
longer ere we return. I am delighted at the thoughts of 
seeing Cashmere, and am gaining great advantage from 
being with these " politicals " in the way of learning the 
languages, and method of governing the natives. I have 
been hard at work day and night for some time now, 
writing for Colonel Lawrence. I left Subathoo on the 
1st, and after a ride of some twenty miles through the 
hills, joined Colonel Lawrence and Mr. Christian, and 
after a shake-down in a little mud bungalow, and an 
amusing dinner, (served up in two brass basins, standing 
on a bed,) and a breakfast to match, we rode down to 
Roopur, on the Sutlej. Here we took boat, and floated 
down the river to Ferozepoor, and came across to La- 
hore during the night in a capital barouche belonging 
to the Ranee, with relays of horses and an escort of 
cavalry. 



CASHMERE. 89 



Thanna, at the foot of the pass into Cashmeek, 
Oct. 2&h, 1846. 

Our tent is pitched on the top of a little spur from the 
mountain side, and beneath us lie, in quaint picturesque 
confusion, scattered over the valley and the little staircase- 
like rice-fields, the mingled hosts of Lahore and Jummoo. 
The spare stalwart Sikh, with his grizzled beard and blue 
turban of the scantest dimensions, side by side with the 
huge-limbed Affghan, with voluminous headgear and 
many-colored garments. The pi'oud Brahmin in the 
same ranks with the fierce " Children of the Faithful ; " 
the little active Hillman ; the diminutive, sturdy, platter- 
faced Ghoorka, and the slight-made Hindostanee, col- 
lected in the same tents, and all alike clothed in a carica- 
ture of the British uniform. I have been very much 
interested and amused by this march with a native army, 
so different from our own proceedings and our own mili- 
tary power, — albeit the British army will soon be as 
varied in its composition. 

I have seen a great deal of the native Sirdars or chiefs, 
especially Tej Singh who commanded the Sikh forces 
in the war, and of the Maharaja. The former a small, 
spare little man, marked with the smallpox, and with a 
thin and scanty beard, but shai'p and intelligent, and by 
his own account a hero. The Maharaja is a fine, tall, 
portly man, with a splendid expressive face, and most 
gentlemanly, pleasing manner, and fine-toned voice, — al- 
together the most pleasing Asiatic I have seen, — to all 
appearance the gentlest of the gentle, and the most sin- 
cere and truthful character in the world ; and in his 
habits he is certainly exemplary ; but he is the cleverest 
hypocrite in the world ; as sharp and acute as possible. 



90 CASHMERE. 

devoured by avarice and ambition, and when roused, hor- 
ribly cruel. This latter accusation he rebuts, by alleging 
the necessity of the case and the ferocity of those he has 
to deal with. To us, however, his fondness for flaying 
men alive, cutting off their noses and ears and hands, &c., 
savors rather of the inexcusable. He was accused of 
having flayed 12,000 men, which he indignantly asserted 
was a monstrous calumny, as he only skinned three ; 
afterwards he confessed to three hundred! Yet he is not 
a bit worse, and in many ways infinitely better, than most 
native princes. Lawrence doubts whether one could be 
found' with fewer faults, if placed in similar circumstances. 
Avitabile, to the disgrace of his European blood, was far 
more cruel. The stories current in the Punjaub of his 
abominations are horrible. The costumes of these chiefs 
would delight you : they never make a mistake in col- 
ors, and the effect is always good, however bright they 
may be. This force is (as I told you) moving up to turn 
the Sheikh Iraaumoodeen, the rebellious vassal of the 
Lahore Government, out of Cashmere, in virtue of the 
treaty ceding it to Gholab Singh. Up to yesterday, I 
expected it would be a fight, but yesterday the Sheikh 
sent letters to say he was sorry and repentful, and was on 
his way to tender his submission. So we wait here to 
receive him. This will not, however, prevent my visit to 
the valley, as Colonel Lawrence intends to accompany 
the Maharaja to pacify and take possession. 

It is very cold here, though not much above 5,000 feet 
above the sea. 



CASHMERE. 91 

To his Father. 
Shupten, in Cashmere, Nov. Gih, 1846. 

I write a hurried line to announce my safe arrival in 
the valley. On the 1st instant we got hold of the rebel- 
lious Sheikh, and sent him down to the plains ; and yes- 
terday, Colonel Lawrence, Captain Browne, and myself, 
rode into the valley, amid the acclamations of an admir- 
ing population — of beggars ! I am writing at sunrise in 
a little tent, and in spite of two coats and waistcoats, I am 
nearly " friz." We crossed the Pir Punjal Pass on the 
4th, 12,000 feet above the sea, with snow all around us, 
and slept on this side in an old serai ; I say slept, because 
we went to bed ; but sleeping was out of the question, 
from the cold and uproar of all our followers and their 
horses, crowded into a court-yard thirty feet square, horses 
and men quarrelling and yelling all night long. The 
view from the top of the Pass was very fine, but the 
wind far too high to take more than a peep of it without 
losing one's eyes ; but the road from Thanna to the sum- 
mit was most lovely the whole way, winding up a glen 
wooded magnificently, and the rocks towering above us on 
all sides ; the trees were all in their varied autumn dress, 
surmounted by forests of pine ; altogether, I never saw 
so grand a scene. As the Sheikh's submission has cut 
the Gordian knot of politics here, we shall only stay a 
few days to see the valley, and install the Maharaja, (who 
is following us with his force by slow stages,) and then 
rush back to Lahore and Subathoo. 

This is said to be the largest town but three in the val- 
ley. It is a poverty-stricken, scattered hamlet of mud 
houses with wooden roofs, the upper half being generally 
rough open lattice-work or railing, with alternate supports 



92 CASHMERE. 

of unbaked bricks ; low mud inclosures, and open waste 
spaces between, dedicated to dogs and dunghills. The 
whole is thickly grown over with fine apple and walnut 
trees, the staple fruits (with the grape) of the valley, and 
the food of the people. They are a poor wretched set, 
only good for beasts of burden, — and certainly they can 
carry a vast load, — their dress, both men and women, 
being a loose, wide-sleeved smock-frock of dirty sackcloth- 
looking woollen. The men wear a dirty skullcap on 
their shaven " nobs," and the women a crimson machine, 
like a flower-pot saucer inverted, from which depends a 
veil or cloth of the same texture as the frock ; legs and 
feet clothed in their native dirt. The women are atro- 
ciously ugly, and screech like the witches in Macbeth^ — 
so much so, that when the Agent asked me to give them 
a rupee or two, I felt it my duty to refuse, firmly but 
respectfully, on the ground that it would be encouraging 
ugliness ! I fancy the climate and the soil are unrivalled, 
but years of poverty and oppression have reduced to a 
nation of beggars what ought to be a Paradise. We go 
hence after breakfast to Islumabad, at the eastern end of 
the valley ; and spend a day or two in looking about us, 
and floating down the river to Cashmere itself, by which 
time our " prince " will have arrived. I am the luckiest 
dog unhung to have actually got into Cashmere. I fancy 
I am the first oificer of our army who has been here, save 
the few who have come officially. These delightful breezes 
are most invigorating. I only wish you could all enjoy 
these travels with me. I expect to be back at Subathoo 
by the 1st of December. 

In a letter to my father about this time, Mr. 
Thomason says : — 



LAWRENCE ASYLUM. '■o 

" I am very glad to observe that such an inti- 
macy has sprung up between Colonel Lawrence 
and your William. He could not be under better 
direction. 

" Colonel Lawrence has evidently taken him 
entirely into his confidence, which cannot but be 
of the greatest use to him in his future career. 
He will have opportunities of observation and 
instruction now, which very few possess after a 
long period of service. To be selected, too, as 
his confidant by a man of Colonel Lav^Tence's 
stamp, is no small feather in the cap of any 
young man. He stands deservedly high also in 
the esteem of all who know him ; and if it 
please God to spare his life and give him health, 
his prospects are as good as any man's can be in 
this country." 

Colonel Lawrence having discovered that my 
brother could work, was by no means disposed to 
let him remain without full occupation, as his 
next letter will show : — 

SuBATHOo, Apiil 1st, 1847. 

I am wonderfully well and flourishing, and have lots to 
do. Lawrence has made me undertake the secretaryship 
of the new Asylum for European Children, building some 
ten miles hence, which will give me volumes of corre- 
spondence, and leagues, nay latitudes of riding. Never- 
theless, it is well, and it is a good work. The responsi- 
bility will be great, as a committee of management, on an 
average three hundred miles apart, are rather nominal in 
their supervision of things. 



94 LAWRENCE ASYLUM. 



SuBATHOO, April \st, 1847. 

If my locomotive instinct has been brought into play 
in India, as you suggest, my constructive organs are likely 
to have their share of exercise. I have the entire direc- 
tion and arrangement of the new Hill Asylum on my 
hands just now. It is seven miles hence, of mountain 
roads, and what with going and coming, planning, in- 
structing, and supervising, my time is pretty well occu- 
pied, to say nothing of my regiment, and private affairs. 
Building a house in India is a different affair from one's 
previous experiences. You begin from the forest and 
the quarry, have to get lime burnt, trees cut down, bricks 
made, planks sawn up, the ground got ready, and then 
watch the work foot by foot, — showing this " nigger " 
how to lay his bricks, another the proper proportions of a 
beam, another the construction of a door, and to the sev- 
eral artisans the mysteries of a screw, a nail, and a hinge. 
You cannot say to a man, " Make me a wall or a door," 
but you must with your own hands measure out his work, 
teach him to saw away here, to plane there, or drive such 
a nail, or insinuate such another suspicion of glue. And 
when it comes to be considered that this is altogether new 
work to me, and has to be excuded by cogitation on the 
spot, so as to give an answer to every inquirer, you may 
understand the amount of personal exertion and attention 
required for the work. 

I have the sole direction and control of nearly four 
hundred and fifty workmen, including paying them, keep- 
ing accounts, drawing plans, and everything. I have to 
get earth dug for bricks, see the moulds made and watch 
the progress of tliem till the kiln is full, get wood for the 
kiln, and direct the lighting of the same, and finally pro- 



LAWRENCE ASYLUM. 95 

vide a goat to sacrifice to the demon who is supposed to 
turn the bricks red ! Then I must get bamboos and 
grass cut for thatching, and string made for the purpose ; 
send about the hills for sand for mortar, and limestone to 
burn, see it mixed and prepared, and then show the nig- 
gers how to use it. Then the whole of the wood-work must 
be set out and made under one's own eye, and a lump of 
iron brought from the mine to be wrought (also under 
one's direction) into nails and screws, before a single door 
can be set up ; and when to all this is added the difficulty 
of getting hands (I mean in the hills), and the bother of 
watching the idlest and most cunning race on earth, you 
may suppose my " unpaid magistracy " is no sinecure. I 
am not exaggerating or indeed telling half the difficulty, 
for fear you should think the whole a romance. You will 
naturally ask how I learnt all these trades. I can only 
say that you can't be more astonished than I am myself, 
and can only satisfy you by the theory that " necessity is 
the mother of invention." I am seldom able to sit down 
from sunrise to sunset, when I get a hasty dinner, and 
am then only too glad to sleep off the effects of the day. 
How I have escaped fever during the last month I cannot 
think, as it has been terribly hot in the sun, even in the 
hills, and I have lived in the blaze of it pretty constantly. 
Colonel Lawrence seems determined I shall have noth- 
ing to stop me, for his invariable reply to every question 
is, "Act on your own judgment ; " " Do what you think 
right ; " " I give you carte hlanche to act in my name, and 
draw on my funds," and so forth. 

Are you aware of the nature of the institution ? It 
was started, in idea, by Colonel Lawrence some two or 
three years ago, and a sufficient sum of money for a 
commencement having been raised, he charged me with 



96 LAWKENCE ASYLUM. 

the erection of the necessary buildings, and the organiza- 
tion and setting in motion of the great machine which is 
to regenerate and save from moral and physical degrada- 
tion, sickness, and death, the children of the British 
soldiers serving in India. The object is to teach them 
all things useful, while you give them the advantage of 
a healthy climate, removed from the evil influence of a 
barrack-room. The children are to remain in the Asy- 
lum until their parents return to England, or till old 
enough to join the ranks, or be otherwise provided for. 

Another drag upon my hands is the care of a small 
European boy, who was lately found up in Cabul, and is 
supposed to be the son of some soldier of the destroyed 
army. He has been brought up as a Mussulman, and 
made to believe his father was such, and is a very bigot. 
Colonel Lawrence sent him to me from Lahore, but forgot 
to write about him, so I know no more of him than I have 
seen in the newspapers, and have no idea what to do with 
him, or where he is to go. He is rather a nuisance, and 
I shall be glad when he goes, as there is little but his odd 
fate to interest one in him ; and I have considerable 
doubts as to his genuine origin. He is more like a half- 
caste than an " European." Our communication is brief, 
as he speaks but little Hindostanee, and I less Persian. 
The Asylum is a much more interesting occupation, as, 
independently of its object, there is a pleasure in covering 
a fine mountain with buildings of one's own designing. 

A few days later he writes : — 

My last few days at the Asylum were enlivened by the 
arrival of Mrs. George Lawrence, whose tent was pitched 
close to mine, on the hill-top. She is a great acquisition 
in a forest life, and a very nice person, — the wife of the 



LAWKENCE ASYLUM. 97 

Captain Lawrence who was one of the Cabul prisoners. 
She is to be supei'intendress until the arrival of the 
future man from England. I have fourteen little girls to 
take care of, by the same token, and listen to the grum- 
blings of their nurses. In short, I don't know myself, 
and that is the long and short of it. I am going to Simla 
for a day or two, to see Mr. Thomason. 

And again, to his brother : — 

The state of things is so provokingly quiet and placid, 
that there seems but small chance of our being called upon 
for another rush across country (called a " forced march"), 
like the one of December, 1845 ; and one is obliged 
to take to anything that offers, to avoid the "tsedium 
vitge " which the want of employment engenders in this 
" lovely country," in those, at least, who have not learnt 
to exist in the philosophical medium of brandy and 
cheroots. Did I tell you, by-the-bye, that I abjured 
tobacco when I left England, and that I have never 
been tempted, by even a night " al fresco," to resume the 
delusive habit ? Nor have I told you (because I de- 
spaired of your believing it) that I have declined from 
the paths of virtue in respect to beer also, these two years 
past, seldom or never even tasting that once idolized 
stimulant ! ! It has not been caused alone by a love of 
eccentricity, but by the very sensitive state of my inner 
man, (achieved in India,) which obliges me to live by 
rule. This is all very edifying, no doubt, to you ; to me 
it is especially so, for I believe if I get on well in India, 
it will be owing, physically speaking, to my digestion. 



98 LAWRENCE ASYLUM. 

SuBATHOO, June ISih, 1847. 

I am getting on famously at the Asylum just now, and 
have succeeded in getting the children under cover before 
the rains. I have nai'rowly escaped a bad fever through 
overwork in the sun, but, by taking it in time, I got right 
again. The weather has since taken a turn, and become 
much cooler, besides which my principal anxiety is over 
for the season. I have certainly had a benefit of work, 
both civil and literary, for the Institution, and since 
Colonel Lawrence put an advertisement in the papers, 
desiring all anxious persons to apply to me, I have had 
enough on my hands. It is all very well, but interferes 
with my reading no little ; and I am sure to get more 
kicks than thanks for my pains from an ungrateful and 
undiscerning public. However, as long as Colonel Law- 
rence leaves everything so completely in my hands, and 
trusts so implicitly to my skill and honesty, it would be a 
shame not to work " un-l\ke a nigger." 

It is intended that the children should remain in the 
Institution until they are eighteen years of age, if their 
fathers be alive, and until somehow or other provided for, 
should they be orphans. The majority of the boys will, 
of course, become soldiers ; but my belief is, that having 
been brought up in the delightful climate of the Hima- 
laya, they will, after ten or fifteen years, settle down in 
the various stations and slightly elevated valleys in these 
hills, as traders and cultivators, and form the nucleus of 
the first British colony in Lidia. My object is to give 
them English habits from the first, which they have in 
most cases to learn, from being brought up by native 
nurses from infancy. Part of the scheme is to make the 
Institution support itself, and I am very shortly going to 



NEW APPOINTMENT. O'J 

start a farm-yard. I have already got a fine large garden 
in full swing ; and here you may see French beans, cab- 
bages, strawberry plants, and fine potatoes (free from 
disease). I steadfastly refuse the slightest dash of color 
in admitting children. People may call this illiberal, if 
they please ; the answer is obvious. Half-castes stand 
the climate of the plains too well to need a hill sanito- 
rium, and by mixing them with English children you 
corrupt those whom you wish to benefit. The little boy 
who was lately redeemed from Cabul, and whom Colonel 
Lawrence consigned to my care, is the plague of my 
existence. He has the thoroughly lying, deceitful habits, 
and all the dirt, of the Affghan races, and not a single 
point of interest to counterbalance them. 



SuBATHOO, August, 1847. 
I have some hopes, though but faint ones, of being 
relieved from the necessity of a move to Cawnpore, 
[whither bis regiment had been ordered,] by obtaining 
a berth under Colonel Lawrence. I know that he has 
asked for me, and, I believe, for an appointment which 
would please me more than any other he could find, as 
being one of the most confidential nature, and involving 
constant locomotion, and plenty of work both for head, 
nerve, and body. But I must not be sanguine, as we 
have already a large proportion of officers away from 
the regiment, and I am a young soldier, though, alas ! 
growing grievously old in years. 

The appointment alluded to was to the 
" Corps of Guides," then recently organized by 



100 LETTER FROM COL. LAWRENCE. 

Colonel Lawrence for service in the Punjaub. 
While this question, however, was still pending, 
there seemed a prospect of Lieut. Hodson's suc- 
ceeding to the adjutancy of his regiment, and 
Colonel Lawrence, as will be seen from the 
subjoined letter, recommended his accepting it, 
if offered : — 

" Simla, Sept. llth. 
" Mt dear Hodson, — I have spoken to the Gov- 
ernor-General about you, who at once replied, ' Let him 
take the adjutancy.' He wishes you well, but is puzzled 
by the absentee question. We are all, moreover, agreed 
on the usefulness to yourself of being employed for a 
time as adjutant to a regiment. There are always slips, 
but I know of no man of double or treble your standing 
who has so good a prospect before him. Favor and par- 
tiality do occasionally give a man a lift, but depend upon 
it that Ms is the best chance in the long run who helps 
himself. So far you have done this manfully, and you 
have reason to be proud of being selected at one time 
for three different appointments by three different men.* 
Don't however, be too proud. Learn your duties thor- 
oughly. Continue to study two or three hours a day; 
not to pass in a hurry, but that you may do so two 
or three years hence with eclat. Take advantage of 
Becher's being at Kussowlee to learn something of sur- 
veying. All knowledge is useful ; but to a soldier, or 
official of any sort in India, I know no branch of knowl- 
edge which so well repays the student. 

* At this very juncture, the Adjutant-General of the army had 
also applied for Lieut. Hodson. 



GUIDE CORPS. 101 

" In Oriental phrase, pray consider that much is said in 
this hurried scrawl, and believe that I shall watch your 
career with warm interest. 

" I am, very sincerely yours, 

" H. M. Lawrence." 

The expected vacancy, however, did not occur, 
and Colonel Lawrence accordingly renewed his 
application for my brother's services in the Pun- 
jaub, and, as will be seen, with success. In the 
beginning of October he writes : — 

I have every reason to expect that before many days 
I shall be gazetted as attached to the Guide Corps. The 
immediate result of my appointment will be a speedy 
departure to Lahore with Colonel Lawrence, who returns 
there to arrange matters before going home. 

And on the 16th : — 

You will, I am sure, rejoice with me at my unprece- 
dented good fortune in being appointed to a responsible 
and honorable post, almost before, by the rules of the 
service, I am entitled to take charge of a company of 
Sepoys. I shall even be better off than I thought; 
instead of merely " doing duty " with the Guide Corps, 
I am to be the second in command. 

The next chapter will show how well Lieut. 
Hodson justified Colonel Lawrence's selection of 
him for so responsible a command, one which the 
course of events made far more important than 



102 GUIDE CORPS. 

could then have been foreseen. It was in this 
that he laid the foundations of his reputation as 
an " unequalled partisan leader," and acquired his 
experience of the Sikhs, and extraordinary influ- 
ence over them. 



CHAPTER IV. 

EMPLOYMENT IN THE PUNJAUB AS SECOND IN COM- 
MAND OP THE CORPS OF GUIDES, AND ALSO AS 
ASSISTANT TO THE RESIDENT AT LAHORE. 

From October, 1847, during the Campaign of 1848-9, to 
the Annexation of the Punjauh in March, 1849. 

Camp, Kdssoor, Nm. Ihth, 1847. 
I ALMOST forget the many events that have happened 
since I wrote last. I beheve I was " at home " in my 
snug httle cottage in Subathoo, and now I am in a high 
queer-looking native house among the ruins of this old 
stronghold of the Pathans ; with orders " to make a good 
road from Lahore to the Sutlej, distance forty miles," in 
as brief a space as pos'sible. On the willing-to-be-gener- 
ally-useful principle this is all very well, and one gets 
used to turning one's hand to everything, but certainly 
(but for " circumstances over which I had no control ") I 
always labored under the impression that I knew noth- 
ing at all about the matter. However, Colonel Lawrence 
walked into my room promiscuously one morning, and 
said, " Oh, Hodson, we have agreed that you must take 
in hand the road to Fei^ozepoor, — you can start in a day 
or two ; " and here I am. Well, I have galloped across 
the country hither and thither, and peered into distances 
with telescopes, and inquired curiously into abstruse (and 



104 PUNJAUB. 

obtuse) angles, rattled Gunter's chains, and consulted 
compasses and theodolites, till I have an idea of a road 
that will astonish the natives not a little. Last night I 
was up half the night, looking out for fires which I had 
ordered to be lighted in sundry places along the line of 
the Sutlej at a fixed hour, that I might find the nearest 
point. This morning, I had a grand assembly of village 
" punches," to discuss with them the propriety of furnish- 
ing able-bodied men for the work. By a little artful 
persuasion, I succeeded in raising 700 from a small dis- 
trict, and am going onwards to hold another stich " county 
meeting" to-morrow. The mode and fashion that has 
always obtained in public works under native govei'n- 
ments, has been to give an order to seize all the inhabi- 
tants, and make them work, — and not pay them then. 
These gentry, therefore, have been so bullied by their 
Sikh masters, that they hardly believe my offers of ready- 
money pay?nents. My predecessor, an artillery officer, 
who came here on the same errand, was turned oflT for 
resorting to violent measures in his anxiety to get hold 
of workmen, having hung some of the head men up by 
the heels to trees till they were ^convinced. He got no 
good (nor hands either) by his dodge. So I was sent 
here on the other persuasion, and you will be glad to 
hear, for the credit of the family, that I am gammoning 
the dear old punches most deliciously. They'd give me 
anything, bless their innocent hearts ! when I get under 
the village tree with them, or by the village well, and 
discourse eloquently on the blessing to society of having 
destroyed the Sikhs, and on the lightness of their land- 
tax. I hope to be relieved in a month, and go up to 
Peshawur to join " the Guides," for this is cruelly hard 
work, and I have had enough for one year of native 



g*^ 



ROAD-MAKING. 105 

work-people. Besides, I am not strong yet, and have a 
horrid cold. I would give anything to be able to sit 
down and read a book quietly, a luxury I have not en- 
joyed for many a long day. Colonel Lawrence starts for 
England on the 30th for two yeai'S. I hope you will 
contrive to see him, and make his acquaintance. Su' F. 
Currie is to be his successor during his absence. 

December 1st. 

I have been at Lahore to receive Colonel Lawrence's 
parting instructions, and say good-bye to him, poor fellow. 
He is a genuinely kind-hearted mortal, and has been a 
brother to me ever since I knew him. I hope to see him 
back in two years, invigorated and renewed, to carry out 
the good work which he has so nobly begun. 



To his Sister. 

Camp, Kussook, Dec. 15th, 1847. 
Your letter met me on my road two days ago, and 
emerged from the folds of a Sikh horseman's turban, to 
my great delight. I got off my horse, and walked along, 
driving him before me till I had read the packet. You 
must not conclude, because I am writing to you a second 
time from this place, that I have been here ever since I 
first commenced operations in these parts. I have been 
twice to Lahore, and several times to various intermedi- 
ate and more distant places, since then. In short, you 
may give up all idea of being able to imagine where I 
may be at any given time. My work has progressed 
considerably. In three weeks I have collected and got 
into working order upwards of a thousand most unwilling 

5* 



106 PUNJAUB. 

laborers, surveyed and marked out some twenty miles of 
road through a desert and forest, and made a very large 
piece of it. I am hapj^y to say I am to be relieved in a 
day or two, and sent to survey another district. I have 
had one or two visitors the last few days, and therefore 
not been so lonely as usual ; but my time has been even 
more than ever occupied. My duties are nearly as vari- 
ous as there are hours in the day ; at one time digging 
a trench, at another time investigating breaches of the 
peace. I am a sort of justice of the peace for general 
purposes, and have to listen to and inquire into complaints, 
and send cases which I think worthy of it for trial to 
Lahore. I caught as neat a case of robbing and murder 
the other day as ever graced Stafford Assizes ; to say 
nothing of endless modes of theft, more or less open, ac- 
cording to the wealth or power of the stealer. This is 
the most remarkable scene of ruin I have met with for 
many a long day ; erst, a nest of the abodes of wealthy 
Pathan nobles, and now a desert tract, of many miles in 
extent, covered with ruins, with here and there a dome, 
or cupola, or minaret, to mark what has once been. 

I am happy to say that I have succeeded in obtaining 
a respite on Sundays. Hitherto, all the works I have 
had in hand have gone on the same every day, and con- 
sequently one's annoyance and responsibility continued 
equally on Sundays. This is happily put an end to, and 
I shall have one day's rest a week at least, to say nothing 
of higher considerations. An order on the subject was 
issued six months ago, but great difficulties were in the 
way of its execution. 



SURVEYING. 107 

Camp, Deenanuggub, Jan. 15rt, 1848. 
Here I am off again like a steam-engine, calling at a 
series of stations, puffing and panting, hither and thither, 
never resting, ever starting ; now in a cutting, now in a 
tunnel ; first in a field, next on a hill : thus passes day 
after day, week after week, a great deal of work going 
through one's hands, and yet one can give very little ac- 
count of one's self at the end of it. At present I am mov- 
ing rapidly along the banks of a small canal which trav- 
erses the Doab, between the Ravee and Beas rivers, for 
purposes of irrigation ; accompanying Major Napier,* 
to whom the prosecution of all public improvements 
throughout the Land of the Five Rivers belongs. We 
(the " Woods and Forests " of the day) have nearly 
reached the point where the river debouches from the 
hills, and have put up for the day in a little garden-house 
of Runjeet Singh's, in the midst of a lovely grove of 
great extent, through whose dark-green boughs we have 
a splendid panorama of the snowy range to back our 
horizon. We have great projects of extending the canal 
by various branches to feed and fertilize the whole extent 
of the DocLb, which wants nothing but water to make it a 
garden, so fertile is the soil. We have come along a 
strip of beautiful country, richly cultivated, lying along 
the banks of this life-giving little watercourse, and the 
weather is perfect, so I am as happy as mere externals 
can make one. Certainly we whose lot has fallen on this 
side of India, are much to be envied. Here, all day 
long, one rides about, clothed as warmly, and even more 
so, than in England at this season, enjoying the bright 
clear sunshine, and never troubled with thinking of the 
* Now Sir Boljert Napier, K. C. B. 



108 PUNJAUB. 

sun ; whilst at Calcutta they are running into their houses 
at nine o'clock to avoid the heat of" the day ! I imagine 
two years in Calcutta would be more wearing than ten up 
here; by the same token, I have achieved the respecta- 
ble weight of eleven stone ten pounds, being an increase 
of seventeen pounds since July. May my shadow never 
be less ! 

I live from the arrival of one mail in expectation of 
the next. I had meant to have written a long series of 
despatches for this opportunity, and have asked you to do 
some commissions for me, but I must postpone it now to 
another time, as Major Napier has lots of work for 
me. I want a pair of thick blankets ; mine were 
plundered at Ferozeshah, and I have always mourned 
over them since, when cold nights and long marches 
come together. In these far countries it is next to im- 
possible to get anything decent. 



Camp, Kaja Ke Bagh, Jan. 29ih, 1848. 

For some days I was staying in, and intend returning 
again to, a fine picturesque old castle or fort built by the 
Emperor Shahjehan. Its lofty walls, with their turrets 
and battlements, inclose a quadrangle of the size of the 
great court of Trinity, while from the centre rises a dark 
mass of buildings three stories high, forming the keep ; 
presenting externally four blank walls pierced with loop- 
holes, but within, arches and pillars and galleries, with an 
open space in the centre, in which they all face. The 
summit rises sixty-four feet, which, in addition to the 
great elevation of the mound on which the castle stands, 
gives a noble view of mountain, river, and plain, covered 



SURVEYING. 109 

with the finest timber and green with young corn ; the 
whole backed by range on range, peak after peak, of daz- 
zling snow. Another, nearly similar, lies about ten miles 
to the north, and I am now " pitched " at the foot of a 
third to the west ; all monuments of the taste and gran- 
deur of the Mogul Emperors. That Goth, Runjeet Singh, 
and his followers have as much to answer for in their way, 
as Cromw^ell and his crop-eared scoundrels in England 
and Ireland. They seem only to have conquered to de- 
stroy, — every public work, every castle, road, serai, or 
avenue, has been destroyed ; the finest mosques turned 
into powder magazines and stables, the gardens into can- 
tonments, and the fields into deserts. I had a pretty 
specimen the other day of the way in which things have 
been managed here. I was desired to examine into, and 
report on, the accounts of revenue collected hitherto in 
180 villages along the " Shah Nahr," or Royal Canal. 
By a convenient mixture of coaxing and .threats, compli- 
ment and invective, a return was at last effected, by which 
it appeared that in ordinary cases about one half the rev- 
enue reached the treasuiy, in some one third, and in one 
district nothing ! To my great amusement, when I came 
to this point, the gallant collector (a long-bearded old 
Sikh) quietly remai'ked, — " Yes, Sahib, this was indeed 
a great place for us entirely." I said, " Yes, you villain, 
you gentry grew fat on robbing your master." " Don't 
call it robbing," he said ; '• I assure you I wouldn't be 
dishonest for the world. I never took more than my pred- 
ecessors did befoi'e me." About the most naive defini- 
tion of honesty I have had the luck to meet with. I 
fancy our visit to these nooks and corners of the Punjaub 
has added some 50,000?. a year to the revenue. My 
present role is to survey a part of the country lying along 



110 PUNJAUB. 

the left bank of the Ravee and below the hills, and I am 
daily and all day at work with compasses and chain, pen 
and pencil, following streams, diving into valleys, burrow- 
ing into hills, to complete my .work. I need hardly 
remark, that having never attempted anything of the kind 
hitherto, it is bothering at first. But one is compelled to 
be patient under this sort of insult, and I should not be 
surprised any day to be told to build a ship, compose a 
code of laws, or hold assizes ; — in fact, 'tis the way in In- 
dia ; every one has to teach himself his work, and do 
it at the same time ; if I go on learning new trades as 
fast during the remainder of my career as I have done at 
its commencement, I shall have to retire as a Jacksonian 
professor at least, when " my dog has had his day." 
Well ! I have fairly beaten the cold this time, — I turned 
back one side of the tent, and had a big fire hghted out- 
side, protected from draughts by a canvas screen, and the 
whole tent is now in a jolly glow ; a gypsy light reflected 
on the trees around, and on the two tall picturesque AflF- 
ghans who, seated cross-legged on each side of the fire, 
either replenish it with sticks, fan it into a fiame, or watch 
my pen with the large, black, inquisitive eye of a dog 
looking out for a crust. 

They make much better servants for wandering folks 
like myself than the Hindostanee servant-tribe, have 
fewer or no prejudices, (save against clean water,) and 
trudge along the livelong day as merrily as if life was a 
joke to them, instead of the dull heavy reality it is.* 

* Lieutenant (now Col.) Herbert Edwardes wrote as .follows to his 
family in England: — 

" Young Hodson has been appointed to do duty with our Punjaub 
Guide Corps, commanded by Lieutenant Lumsden. The duties of a 
Commandant or Adjutant of Guides are at once important and delight- 



GUIDE CORPS. Ill 



Feb. 0.1 th, 1848. 

I really have very little to tell you of my new Guide 
Corps duties from the somewhat strange fact that I have 
never yet actually entered upon them ; this will soon 
come to an end, however, as I have directions to proceed 
to Peshawur as soon as the survey I have been at work 
on is completed. The grand object of the corps is to train 
a body of men in peace to be efficient in war ; to be not 
only acquainted with localities, roads, rivers, hills, ferries, 
and passes, but have a good idea of the produce and 
supplies available in any part of the country ; to give 
accurate information, not running open-mouthed to say 
that 10,000 horsemen and a thousand guns are coming, 
(in true native style,) but to stop to see whether it may 
not be really only a common cart and a few wild horse- 
men who are kicking up all the dust ; to call twenty-five 
by its right name, and not say Jifti/ for short, as most na- 
tives do. This of course wants a great deal of careful 
instruction and attention. Beyond this, the officers should 
give a tolerably correct sketch and report of any country 
through which they may pass, be au fait at routes and 
means of feeding troops, and above all (and here you 
come close upon practical duties) keep an eye on the 
doings " of the neighbors " and the state of the country, 
so as to be able to give such information as may lead to 
any outbreak being nipped in the bud. This is the theory, 

fol. It is his dnty in time of peace to fit himself for leading armies 
during war. This necessitates his being constantly on the move, and 
making himself and his men acquainted with the country in every 
quarter. In short, it is a roving commission, and to a man of spirit 
and ability one of the finest appointments imaginable. 

"I think Hodson will do it justice. He is one of the finest young 
fellows I know, and a thorough soldier in his heart." 



112 FLOOD. 

what the practice may be I'll tell you some day or other 
when I know. Hitherto I have been making myself gen- 
erally useful under the chief engineer, and learning to 
survey. One has to turn one's hand to everything if one 
wishes to get on. 

Meanwhile, I am busily collecting every species of 
information about the people and the land they live in. 
Hard work and fatigue, of course, but a splendid opening 
and opportunity for making one's self known and neces- 
sary. 



Deenanuggur, March Uth, 1848. 
The night your letter reached me, Napier (our chief 
engineer) and I were encamped on a spur of grass land 
separating two streams of the river " Chukkir," and had 
been so for some days. That evening it began to rain, 
(if a sluice of water, apparently struck down from the 
heavens by a flood of the fiercest lightning, can be called 
so,) and for thirty-six hours the torrent descended with- 
out intermission, as only Asiatic storms can descend. At 
length a pause ensued, and the sky was visible, and we 
emerged from our sodden tents only to be threatened 
with water in a worse form. The hills, valleys, and 
mountains began to send down to us what they had so 
plentifully received from above, and the hitherto quiet 
stream, whose wide stony channel surrounded us, was in 
a single hour a powerful torrent, tearing over the country 
as if to prove what it could do. By one of the singular 
freaks common to all tropical rivers, it dammed up one 
of its own widest outlets by the quantity of stones which 
it brought along with it, and came tearing down the one 



ROBBER-HUNT. 113 

nearest to us. Across this, not a hundred yards from 
our tents, we had just built a powerful breakwater some 
sixteen feet wide, but the water quietly walked over, 
under, and round it; roared, groaned, stormed, and 
swelled angrily for two hours, and our breakwater was a 
" thing of history ; " meantime, we were gradually get- 
ting more and more surrounded with water, it rose and 
rose until only four inches were wanting to set us well 
afloat. The pegs of my tent-ropes were undermined, 
and a notice to quit was as plainly written on the face of 
the water as ever on a legal process. There was but 
one way of escape, so mustering the whole of a neigh- 
boring village, we loaded all our valuables and movables 
on their backs, and made a dash at the hamlet. Once 
having succeeded in turning us out, the valiant Chukkir 
was content, and we slept in our tents as usual, but not 
without, as it turned out, considerable risk of finding 
ourselves landed in some unknown field on waking. 

When this flood subsided, it appeared that the scene 
of our unfortunate dam had become the deepest part of 
the channel, and the old course choked with stones and 
bowlders which you and I couldn't lift in a week of 
Sundays. Is not this an incident? 

Since I wrote last, in consequence of representations 
I sent to head-quarters as to the amount of plundering 
going on, a large party of horse, with one of the princi- 
pal chiefs, was sent out here, with directions to act on the 
information I gave them. We have, accoi'dingly, had a 
robber-hunt on a large and tolerably successful scale. 
Numbers have been caught. One shot pour encourager 
les autres, and we have traces of others, so that my quiet 
practice (originally for my own amusement and informa- 
tion) has been very useful to the State. I found out the 



114 PUN.IAUB. 

greatest part of it by sending clever fellows disguised as 
" faqueers " (you know what tliey are, I think ; — relig- 
ious beggars) to the different villages to talk to the 
people and learn their doings. Some of the stories of 
Sikh violence, cruelty, and treachery which I have picked 
up are almost beyond belief. The indifference of these 
people to human life is something appalling. I could 
hardly get them to give a thought or attempt an inquiry 
as to the identity of a man Avhom I found dead, evidently 
by violence, by the roadside yesterday morning ; and 
they were horrified at the thought of tying up or confin- 
ing a sacred ox, who had gored his thirteenth man the 
evening before last ! They told me plainly that no one 
had a right to complain of being hurt by so venerable a 
beast. 

In such pursuits, combined with surveying, my time 
passes away tolerably well. I am alone again, Napier 
having gone to Lahore ; but this is a sweet place, and 
I am staying in a pleasant summer-house of Runjeet 
Singh's, in the midst of a fine garden, or grove of mango 
and orange trees. 



Camp on Eavee, March 2Uh, 1848. 
Just as I had completed my somewhat lengthy reply to 
your question, I was interrupted by a camel-rider, who 
had come in hot haste with a letter from Sir F. Currie, 
at Lahore, with the most agreeable intelligence in the 
world, — voila. 

" My dear Mr. Hodson, — Pray knock off your 
present work, and come into Lahore as quickly as you 
can. 



MOOLTAN. 115 

" I want to send you with Mr. Agnew to Mooltan. 
Mr. Agnew starts immediately with your acquaintance, 
Sirdah Sumshere Singh, to assume the government of 
that province, Mooh-aj having sent in his resignation of 
the Niziimut. Lieutenant Becher is to be Agnew's per- 
manent assistant, but he cannot join just now, and I wish 
you to go with Agnew. It is an important mission, and 
one that, I think, you will like to be employed in. When 
relieved by Becher, you will join the Guides at Lahore, 
and be employed also as assistant to the Resident. The 
sooner you come the better. 

" Yours, sincerely, 

" F. CURRIE." 

The last line of Sir Frederick's letter was not lost on 
me, and to keep up my character for locomotion, I started 
at daybreak for Deenanuggur, finishing off my work en 
route, remained there the rest of the day to wind up 
matters, and add my surveying sketch to the large plan 
I had commenced beforehand, and hurried onwards this 
morning. You will perceive that I have crossed the 
Doab, and am now writing on the banks of the Ravee, 
some sixty miles above Lahore. I marched twenty-four 
and a half miles with tent and baggage this morning, 
and hope to continue at that pace, with the difference of 
marching by night, the weather having suddenly become 
very hot indeed. 

I am much interested in the thought of going to so new 
a place as Mooltan — new, that is to say, to Europeans, 
yet so important from position and commerce. The only 
drawback is the heat, which is notorious throughout 
Western India. I am not aware, however, that it is oth- 
erwise unhealthy. 



116 PUNJAUB. 

As you may suppose, I am much gratified by the ap- 
pointment, both for its own sake and also as evincing so 
very favorable and kindly a disposition toward myself on 
the part of the new potentate. 



To his Sister. 

Camp, March 2mh, 1848. 

Of incidents to amuse you I have not many to narrate, 
save the usual " moving " ones by " flood and field." On 
the 18th I was very nearly becoming a damp unpleasant 
corpse to celebrate my birthday. In attempting a ford, 
my horse sank up to the girths in a quicksand. I man- 
aged to extricate myself and, dry land being near, he got 
up without damage. Sending a man ahead, I tried again 
in another place. Here it was fair to the eye but false 
to the foot. Down he went again, this time in deeper 
water, and got me under him by struggling. However, I 
realized the old proverb, and escaped with a good duck- 
ing and a mouthful of my native element, rather gritty. 
Next I tried a camel, but the brute went down at the 
first stride. So giving it up in despair, I put on dry 
clothes, and then waded through the river. 

Not content with one attempt on my existence, the 
horse gave me a violent kick the same evening when I 
went up to him to ask " How d'ye do." So I completed 
my year, in spite of myself, as it were. 

Lahore, April 2d. 
Since the above was written, I have succeeded in 
reaching the metropolis, as you see, at a greater expendi- 
ture of animal heat and fatigue than I have gone through 



LAHOKE. 117 

for some time. I was very friendlily and pleasantly 
greeted by Sir F. and Lady Currie, and tumbled at once 
again into the tide of civilization — loaf bread, arm-chairs, 
hats, and ladies — as philosophically as if I had been for 
months in the calm and unrestrained enjoyment of such 
luxuries. 

On my arrival, I found that the arrangement proposed 
in Sir F. Currie's note had already become matter of his- 
tory, not of fact. The new one is still better for me. I 
am to remain at Lahore, and be an assistant to the Resi- 
dent, having my Guide duties to discharge also, when 
Lumsden arrives from Peshawur with the Corps. He is 
expected in twenty days. Nothing could possibly have 
been better for me. I shall have the advantage of learn- 
ing in the best school, head-quarters, and have many 
more opportunities of making myself " generally useful." 
I am most rejoiced at the plan, and Sir F. Currie's con- 
siderate kindness in devising it. We wont say anything 
of the regularity or consistency of making a man of two 
and a half year's service, and who has passed no examina- 
tion, a political officer, nor will we be ungrateful enough 
to say that he is unfit for the appointment, but that he 
should do his utmost to show that the rule is more hon- 
ored " in the breach than in the observance." 



Residency, Lahore, April l&ili, 1848. 
I shall not have the same vai'iety to chronicle now that 
I seem to be fixed here, but more interest and a higher 
style of work. Since I wrote last I have been six hours 
a day employed in court, hearing petitions and appeals in 
all manner of cases, civil and criminal, and in matters of 



118 LAHOEE. 

revenue, as there are but two officers so employed. You, 
perhaps, will comprehend that the duty is no sinecure. 
It is of vast importance, and I sometimes feel a half sen- 
sation of modesty coming over me at being set down to 
administer justice in such matters so early, and without 
previous training. A little practice, patience, and reflec- 
tion settle most cases to one's satisfaction, however ; and 
one must be content with substantial justice as distin-, 
guished from technical law. In any point of difficulty one 
has always an older head to refer to, and meantime, one 
has the satisfaction of knowing that one is independent 
and untrammelled save by a very simple code. Some 
things, such as sentencing a man to imprisonment for 
seven years for killing a cow, are rather startling to one's 
ideas of right and wrong ; but then to kill a cow is to 
break a law, and to disturb the pubUc peace — perhaps 
cause bloodshed ; so the law is vindicated, and one's con- 
science saved. I have many other duties, such as finish- 
ing my map, for which I was surveying at Deenanuggur ; 
occasionally translating an official document ; going to 
Durbars, &c. ; and when the Guides arrive (on the 20th) 
I shall have to assist in di'illing and instructing them ; 
to say nothing of seeing that their quarters are prepared, 
and everything ready for them. I am not, therefore, 
idle, and only wish I had time to read. 

On the 26th he writes from Lahore : — 

I mentioned to you that Sir F. Currie's plan of send- 
ing me to assist Agnew at Mooltan had been altered, and 
that Anderson had gone with him in my stead. At the 
time I was disposed to be disappointed ; but we never 
know what is for our good. In this case I should doubt- 
less have incurred the horrible fate of poor Anderson and 



MOOLTAN. 119 

Agnew. Both these poor fellows have been barbarously 
murdered by the Mooltan troops. 

He then gives a detailed account of their tragi- 
cal fate, and the treachery of the villain Moolraj, 
and adds : — 

The Sikh Durbar profess their inability to coerce their 
rebel subject, who is rapidly collecting a large army, and 
strengthening himself in the proverbially strong fort of 
Mooltan. 

One cannot say how it will end. The necessary delay 
of five months, till after the rains, will give time for all 
the disaffected to gather together, and no one can say how 
far the infection may extend. The Sikhs were right in 
saying, " We shall have one moi'e fight for it yet." 



Lahore, May Itli. 

I expect to be busy in catching a party of rascals who 
have been trying to pervert our Sepoys by bribes and 
promises. We have a clue to them, and hope to take 
them in the act. We are surrounded here with treach- 
ery. No man can say who is implicated, or how far the 
treason has spread. The life of no British ofiicer, away 
from Lahore, is worth a week's purchase. It is a pleas- 
ant sort of government to pi'op up, when their head-men 
conspire against you and their troops desert you on the 
slightest temptation. 

Lumsden, the commandant of the Guides, and I want 
something sensible for the protection of our heads from 
sun and blows, from coups de soleil equally with coups 
d'epee. There is a kind of leathern helmet in the Prus- 



120 GUIDE UNIFORM. 

sian service which is light, serviceable, and neat. Will 
you try what you can do in the man-millinery line, and 
send me a brace of good helmets ? We don't want orna- 
ment ; in fact, the plainer the better, as we should always 
wear a turban over them, but strong, and light as a hat. 
I have no doubt your taste will be approved. I hope this 
wont be a bore to you, but one's head wants protecting in 
these stormy days. 

The helmets on their arrival were pronounced 
" maddening." This was the first of a series of 
commissions connected with the clothing and 
arming of the Guide Corps, which was left main- 
ly, if not entirely, in my brother's hands, and was 
a matter of much interest to him. The color 
selected for their uniform was " drab," as most 
likely to make them invisible in a land of dust. 
Even a member of the Society of Friends could 
scarcely have objected to send out drab clothing 
for 900 men, but to this succeeded directions to 
select the pattern of, and send out, 300 rifle car- 
bines, which seemed scarcely a clerical business. 
The result, however, was satisfactory, and in the 
following year my brother wrote : — 

Many thanks for the trouble you have taken about the 
clothing for the Guides. Sir C. Napier says they are 
the only properly dressed light troops he has seen in 
India. 



THE RANEE. 121 

Camp, Deenanugguk, June Uh, 1848. 

You will hardly have been prepared to hear that I am 
once more on the move, rushing about the country, des- 
pite climate, heat, and rumors (the most alarming). 

I wrote last the day after our successful capture of the 
conspirators, whom I had the satisfaction of seeing hung 
three days later. I then tried a slight fever as a variety 
for two days; and on the 14th started to "bag" the 
Ranee in her abode beyond the Ravee, she having been 
convicted of complicity in the designs of the conspirators. 
Lumsden and myself were deputed by the Resident to 
call on her, and intimate that her presence was urgently 
required. A detachment was ordered out to support us, 
in case any resistance should be offered. Fortunately it 
was not required, as the Ranee complied at once with our 
" polite " request to come along with tis. Instead of be- 
ing taken to Lahore, as she expected, we carried her off 
to Kana Kutch, on the Ferozepoor road, where a party 
of Wheeler's Irregulars had been sent to receive her. It 
was very hard work — a long night march to the fort, 
and a fourteen hours' ride across to Kana Kutch, whence 
I had two hours' gallop into Lahore to report progress, 
making sixteen hours in the saddle, in May, when the 
nights are hot. On the next Sunday night I was off 
again, to try and seize or disperse a party of horse and 
foot collected by a would-be holy man, Maharaja Singh, 
said to amount to four or five hundred. I made a tre- 
mendous march round by Umritsur, Byrowal-Ghat, on 
the Beas, and up that river's bank to Mokeria, in the 
Jullundur Doab, whence I was prepared to cross during 
the nigbt with a party of cavalry, and attack the rascals 
unawares. Everything succeeded admirably up to the 

G 



122 SIKH CONSPIRACY. 

last, when I found that he had received notice from a 
rogue of a native magistrate that there would be attempts 
made to seize him, when he fairly bolted across the Ravee, 
and is now infesting the Doab between that river and the 
Chenab. I have scoured this jjart of the country (which 
my late surveys enabled me to traverse with perfect ease) 
got possession of every boat on the Ravee from Lahore 
to the Hills, placed horsemen at every ferry, and been 
bullying the people who supplied the Saint with pro- 
visions and arms. I have a regiment of Irregular Horse 
(Skinner's) with me, and full powers to summon more, if 
necessary, from the JuUundur Doab. Meantime, a party 
from Lahore are sweeping round to intercept the fellow, 
who is getting strong by degrees ; and I am going to 
dash across at midnight with a handful of cavalry, and 
see if I cannot beat up the country between this and 
Wuzeerabad. I am very well, hard at work, and enjoy- 
ing the thing very much. I imagine this will be the sort 
of life we shall lead about once a week till the Punjaub is 
annexed. Every native official has fraternized with the 
rebels he was oi'dered to catch. 



Lahore, July 5ih, 1848. 

I wrote last from Deenanuggur, on the eve of crossing 
the Ravee to look after the Gooroo, Maharaja Singh. I 
remained in the Rechnab Doab some days, hunting up 
evidence and punishing transgressors. 

I was very fairly successful in obtaining information of 
the extent of the conspiracy, which has been keeping the 
whole country in a ferment these two months past. All 
that has occurred is clearly traceable to the Ranee (now 



NIGHT MARCHES. 123 

happily deported) and her friends, and has been carried 
out with a fearful amount of the blackest treachery and 
baseness. There have been stirring events since I wrote 
last. Twice within a fortnight has Herbert Edwardes 
fought and defeated the Mooltan rebels in pitched battles, 
and has succeeded, despite of treachei^ous foes and doubt- 
ful friends, in driving them into the fort of Mooltan. His 
success has been only less splendid than the energy and 
courage which he has shown throughout, especially that 
high moral courage which defies I'esponsibility, risks, self- 
interest, and all else, for the good of the State, and which, 
if well directed, seems to command fortune and ensure 
success. I have been longing to be with him, though 
after my wonderfully narrow escape of being murdered 
with poor Agnew at Mooltan, I may well be content to 
leave my movements in other hands. I was summoned 
into Lahore suddenly (as usual ! ) to take command of 
the Guides and charge of Lumsden's duties for him, as he 
had been sent down the river towards Bhawulpoor. I came 
in the Avhole distance (one hundred miles), with bag and 
baggage, in sixty hours, which, considering that one can't 
travel at all by day, and not more than four miles an hour 
by night, required a great amount of exertion and perse- 
verance. It is strange that the natives always knock up 
sooner than we do on a march like this. The cavalry 
were nine days on the road, and grumbled then ! I know 
few things more fatiguing than when exhausted by the 
heat of the day, to have to mount at nightfall, and ride 
slowly throughout the night, and for the two most dis- 
agreeable hours of a tropical day, viz : those after sunrise. 
One night, on which I was making a longer march than 
usual, had a fearful effect on a European I'egiment mov- 
ing upon Ferozepoor, the same hot night-wind, which had 



124 PUNJAUB. 

completely prostrated me for the time, fell upon the men 
as they halted at a well to drink ; they were fairly beaten, 
and lay down for a few minutes to pant. When they 
arose to continue their march, a captain and nine or ten 
men were left dead on the ground ! It was the simoom 
of Africa in miniature. I have happily escaped fever or 
sickness of any kind, and have nothing to complain of 
but excessive weakness. Quinine will, I trust, soon set 
me up again. 



Lahoke, Sept. Zd, 1848. 

We have had stirring times lately, though I personally 
have had little share in them. Mooltan is at last invested, 
and we expect daily to hear of its fall. Meanwhile, a 
new outbreak has occurred in Huzara, a wild hilly region 
on the left bank of the Indus, above Attok, where one 
of the powerful Sirdars has raised the standard of 
revolt. 

I snjjpose I may say to you at so great a distance, what 
I must not breathe here, that it is now morally certain 
that we have only escaped, by what men call chance and 
accidents, the effects of a general and well-organized con- 
spiracy against British supremacy in Upper India. Our 
" ally " Gholab Singh, the creature of the treaty of 1848, 
the hill tribes, the whole Punjaub, the chiefs of Rajpoo- 
tana, and the states round Umbala and Kurnal, and even 
the King of Cabul, I believe, have been for months and 
months securely plotting, without our having more than 
the merest hints of local disturbances, against the suprem- 
acy of the British Government. They were to unite 
for one vast effort, and drive us back upon the Jumna. 
This was to be again the boundary of British India. The 



SIKH CONSPIRACY. 125 

rising in Mooltan was to be the signal. All was prepared, 
when a quarrel between Moolraj and the treacherous 
khan, Singh Man, who was sent to commence the war, 
spoilt their whole scheme. The proud Rajpoot, Gholab 
Singh, refused to follow in the wake of a Mooltan mer- 
chant, and the merchant would not yield to the soldier. 
We have seen the mere ebullitions of the storm, the bub- 
bles which float at the surface. I believe that now we 
are safe from a general rising, and that the fall of Mool- 
tan will put a stop to mischief. If, however, our rulers 
resort again to half measures, if a mutinous army is re- 
tained in existence, the evil day will return again. Ab- 
solute supremacy has been, I think, long demonstrated to 
be our only safety among wild and treacherous races. 
Moderation, in the modern sense, is the greatest of all 
weakness. 



Sept. 18th, 1848. 

You will have seen that our troops have been hard at 
it in Mooltan, and now I have to tell you that it has all 
been in vain ; Rajah Shere Singh, and the whole of our 
worthy Sikh allies, have joined the rebel Moolraj, and 
General Whish has been compelled to raise the siege and 
retire. 

I have just dispatched every available Guide to try 
and get quietly into the far-famed fort of Govindghur, 
and hope in a few hours to hear of their success. They 
have forty friends inside, and only a few score wavering 
enemies. I have not a moment which I can call my own, 
and have put off this (which is merely an assurance that 
I am alive and very well) to the last moment, so as to 
give you the latest tidings. I am all agog at the prospect 



126 GOVINDGHUR. 

of stirring times, and the only single drawback is the fear 
that you all will be very anxious. I shall not, however, 
run my head unnecessarily into a scrape, and see no cause 
for your frightening yourselves. 

One comfort is, that the farce of native government 
has been played out. It was an experiment honestly 
tried, and as honestly a failure. 

A few days later he says : — 

My Guides have covered themselves with glory (and 
dust) by the way in which they got into, and got posses- 
sion of, the famed fort of Govindghur. A hundred of 
my men, under a native officer — a fine lad of about 
twenty, whom I have petted a good deal — went up 
quietly to the gates, on pretence of escorting four State 
prisoners, (whom I had put in irons for the occasion,) 
were allowed to get in, and then threw up their caps, and 
took possession of the gateway, despite the scowls, and 
threats, and all but open resistance of the Sikh garrison. 
A day afterwards a regiment inarched from Lahore, and 
went into garrison there, and so Runjeet Singh's treasure- 
fort is fairly in our hands. 



Nov. 1st, 1848. 
I left Lahore — but stay, I must get there first. "Well, 
I wrote from Ramnuggur, on the Chenab, last ; whence, 
after a fruitless sejour of six days, in the vain hope of 
meeting Mrs. George Lawrence, I returned suddenly to 
Lahore by an order which reached me the evening of the 
5th. I started at sunset, and pushing my way on various 
borrowed steeds across that dreary region during the 



EUNGUR NUGGUL. 127 

night, accompanied by a single camel-rider, I reached 
Lahore, a distance of sevent}^ miles, by nine the follow- 
ing morning. 

On the 8th I was off again at daybreak on a longer 
journey still, having to cross the country to Brigadier 
Wheeler's camp in the Jullundur Doab, to convey ordei-s 
to him relative to the reduction of two rebellious forts in 
the Doab, between the Ravee and Beas. A " grind " of 
some twenty-six hours on camel-back, with the necessary 
stoppages, took me to the camp, whence (because I had 
not had enough) I recrossed the Beas the same night, 
after examining and reporting on the state of the ferries 
by which the troops were to follow me. This time I was 
escorted by a troop of Irregular Horse, and being thereby, 
according to my estimation of Sikh prowess, rendered tol- 
erably independent, I marched the next morning for the 
fort of Rungur Nuggul, some fourteen miles from the 
right bank of the Beas. 

On approaching it, and the village which covered one 
side of it, I was welcomed by a discharge of matchlocks, 
&c., as a sort of bravado, which served to point out ex- 
actly the range of my friends' pieces. I lost no time 
in getting the horsemen into a secure position (which 
means, one equally good for fighting or running away), 
and advanced under shelter of the trees and sugar-canes 
to within easy distance of the fort. Hence I dispatched 
a message to the rebels, to say that if they did not come 
to reason within an hour, they should have no choice but 
that between cold steel or the gallows. The hour elapsed 
without result, so mentally consigning the garrison to an- 
nihilation, I set to work to reconnoitre the ground round 
the fort. This accomplished — with no further interrup- 
tion than a shower of unpleasant bullets when I ventured 



128 CAPTURE OF FORT. 

too near — I sat down, and drew a little pencil plan of 
the ground and fort, dispatched a trooper with it to the 
Brigadier, and then retired to a little village about a mile 
off for the night. Another day and night passed in this 
precarious fashion, without (as is my usual fate), servants, 
clothes, or traps, until at length my own men (Guides) 
arrived from Lahore with my baggage and horses. I 
could now muster a hundred rifles, and eighty horsemen, 
so we set to work to invest the place, being the only way 
to render the escape of the rebels diflS.cult or impossible. 
•The fort, though very small, was immensely strong, and 
well garrisoned with desperadoes, and we had sharp Avork 
of it during the two nights and day which elapsed before 
the Brigadier* appeared with his troops. By keeping 
my men scattered about in parties, under cover, the supe- 
riority of their weapons enabled them to gall the defend- 
ers of the fort whenever they showed their heads, day or 
night; and whenever they made a sally they got driven 
back with the loss of one or two of their companions. At 
last the Brigadier appeared, pounded the place with his 
guns during the day, and let the garrison escape at night. 
Then came the bore of destroying the empty fort, a work 
which consumed a week of incessant labor, and forty-one 
mines loaded with an aggregate of 8,000 pounds of pow- 
der. Having destroyed house, fort, stables, and every- 
thing, and removed the grain and property, we at length 
moved on to a second fort, called " Morara," about a mile 

* Extract from Despatch of Brigadier Wheeler to the Adjutant- 
General. 

Camp, Rungub Nuggul, Oct. loth, 1848. 
" Lieut. W. S. Hodsou, with his detachment of Corps of Guides, has 
done most excellent service, and by his daring boldness, and that of 
his men, gained the admiration of all." 



MORARA. 129 

from the left bank of the Ravee, near this place. I can- 
not now go into details of the second failure of the Briga- 
dier in attempting to punish the rebels, for they bolted 
before he fired a shot, nor of my attempts to prevent their 
escape. I have had loads of work, what with soldiering, 
providing supplies for the force, and all the multifarious 
duties which come on the shoulders of a " political " out 
here. I am quite well, and the weather is lovely, so 
work is easy comparatively, and an active life like this is, 
as you know, my particular weakness. I hope to cross 
the Ravee in a few days with the troops collecting to pun- 
ish the rebel (or patriot) Sikh aj'my. We want Sir C. 
Napier sadly. What with the incapacity shown at Mool- 
tan, and the dilatory proceedings at head-quarters, our 
reputation is suffering cruelly, and every one knows that 
that is a stain only to be dyed out in blood. Every 
week's delay adds thousands to our present foes and 
future victims. 



To Ms Sister. 

Deenanuggur, Dec. ith, 1848. 
You must not suppose that because I have wiitten 
twice from this place that therefore I have been here all 
the time. On the contrary, I have been incessantly on 
the move. So much so as to have pretty nearly estab- 
lished a claim to the medal for discovering perpetual mo- 
tion. I have been moving in an orbit whose gyrations 
have been confined to a space bounded by the Chenab 
and the Beas, and a line drawn E. and W. through Um- 
ritsur and Lahore. Nearly the whole of this vast " track " 
of country has been under my sole charge. I have had 
also to feed an army daily of 3,000 odd fighting men, 
6 * 



130 "POLITICALS." 

2,000 odd horses, and 14,000 to 15,000 camp followers. 
Also to take care of and work my Guides ; to point out 
the haunts and obtain information of the strength of " the 
enemy," and give him over to the tender mercies of fire 
and sword ; item, to fight him personally ; item, to destroy 
six forts, and sell by auction the property therein found ; 
item, to be civil to all comers ; item, to report all the said 
doings daily to Government ; item, to march ten to 
twenty miles a day at a slow pace ; item, to eat, drink, 
dress, and sleep, to rest one's self from all these labors. In 
the above compendious epitome of the work of that much- 
abused and ill-used class called " politicals " in India, you 
will, I trust, observe no vacant places or " hiati " in which 
you would expect to see inscribed, " item, to write to one's 
friends." No ; one is a white slave, and no mistake ; day 
and night, early or late, v(jeek-day or Sunday, one is the 
slave of the public, or rather of the Government, to a 
degree which cannot be credited until it is experienced. 
The departure of Brigadier Wheeler across the Beas, 
and therefore out of my beat, has made a slight break in 
the work, but there is still more than I can get through 
in the day. I am grinding my teeth all the time at being 
kept away from the scene of what must be the grand 
struggle between the cow-killers and cow-worshippers on 
the banks of the Chenab. 

On the 8th of last month I marched hence to overtake 
Brigadier Wheeler and his troops, and accompany them 
across the Ravee. On reaching the river, I represented to 
the Brigadier " who of course does not know friend from 
foe until he is told," the urgent necessity of attacking 
a party of insurgents who w^ere within fourteen miles of 
us, but could not persuade him to do so. The old gentle- 
man was intent on pushing on to the main army, flatter- 



INSURGENTS. 131 

ing himself he was going to command a division of it. 
When within twenty-five or thirty miles of the head- 
quarter camp at Ramnuggur, I rode over to Lahore, and 
talked to Sir F. Currie, who was just dispatching an ex- 
press to me about these very people w^e had left unat- 
tacked two days before. He sent me off there and then 
to see the Commander-in-Chief, who was very polite ; 
asked my opinion " and acted on it too ! " ; told me all his 
plans for carrying on the war ; and on my telling him the 
facts of the case, sent an order to the Brigadier to re- 
ti'ace his steps, and attack the party he had passed by at 
once, with something very like a rap over the knuckles. 
After a delay of some days, caused by a sudden counter 
summons to move to reinforce Campbell,* who was 
vainly expecting that the Singhs would fight, we at 
length turned back for Kulallwala, the name of the fort 
occupied by my friends. We got within twenty-five 
miles of it on the 20th, and I urged the Brigadier to 
move on like lightning, and crush them. He would not, 
and began to make short marches, so I was compelled to 
out-manoeuvre him by a bold stroke. On the morning 
of the 21st I left his camp, and pushed on some ten 
miles to a place on the straight road for Kulallwala. 
Here was a fort belonging to a doubtful Sirdar, and I 
determined to get possession of it if possible. I had with 
me only 100 men, and the enemy was only eight miles 
off with 4,000 — rabble, to be sure, and fellows who have 
no heart for fighting ; but the odds were great, and it 
was necessary to put a bold face on matters. I therefore 
"boned" the Chief's two confidential servants, who were 
in his dwelling-house outside the fort, and taking one on 
each side of me, walked up to the gateway, and de- 
* Sir Colin, 



132 CAPTURE OF FORTS. 

manded admission ; they hesitated, and made excuses. I 
significantly hinted that my two companions should be 
responsible if a shot was fired ; the stout Sikh heart 
failed, and I was admitted. My proceeding was justi- 
fied, and rendered laost opportune by the discovery that 
the garrison were preparing munitions of war, mount- 
ing guns, and looking saucy. I turned them out by the 
same means as I had gained admittance, viz : by hinting 
that if any resistance was made the headmen by my side 
were doomed. Putting in sixteen of my Guides to hold 
it until further orders, I took up my quarters outside for 
the night, and prepared to attack another small mud fort 
near at hand in the morning. 

However, my friends ran away in the night in a fright, 
and thus I had opened the road to Kulallwala without 
firing a shot. In the morning I marched with my little 
party towards the enemy, sending back a messenger to 
the Brigadier to say that I was close to the place, and 
that if he did not come on sharp they would run away or 
overwhelm me. He was dreadfully angry, but came on 
like a good boy ! When within a mile or so of the fort, 
I halted my party to allow his column to get up nearer, 
and as soon as I could see it, moved on quietly. The 
ruse told to perfection : thinking they had only 100 men 
and myself to deal with, the Sikhs advanced in strength, 
thirty to one, to meet me, with colors flying and drums 
beating. Just then a breeze sprung up, the dust blew 
aside, and the long line of horsemen coming on rapidly 
behind my party burst upon their senses. They turned 
instantly, and made for the fort, so leaving my men to 
advance quietly after them, I galloped up to the Briga- 
dier, pointed out the flying Sikhs, explained their posi- 
tion, and begged him to charge them. He melted from 



KULALLWALA. 133 

his wrath, and told two regiments of Irregulars to folloAV 
my guidance. On we went at the gallop, cut in amongst 
the fugitives, and punished them fearfully. The unfortu- 
nate wretches had cause to rue the day they turned reb- 
els, for we left them thickly on the ground as we swept 
along. I had never charged with cavalry before, or come 
so directly into hand to hand conflict with the Sikh, save 
of course in the trenches at Sobraon. About 300 to 400 
escaped into the fort, while the remainder, thi'ew down 
their arms and dispersed over the country. The garrison 
ran away during the night, unfortunately, and we had 
only to take peaceful possession in the morning. We 
had killed some 250 to 300 of them, which will be a les- 
son to them, I hope. My men got into the village contig- 
uous to the fort early, while we pitched into those of the 
enemy who remained behind, to a great extent. Since 
then we have been pursuing other parties, but only came 
into collision with them to a very trifling extent once. 
They had learnt how to run away beautifully. The Brig- 
adier has grown quite active, and very fond of me since 
that day at Kulallwala, though he had the wit to see how 
very " brown I had done him " by making him march 
two marches in one.* 

* Extract from an Order issued by Bkigadier-Genekal Wheeler. 

" Camp Kulallwala, Nov. 23d, 1848. 
"The detachment of the Corps of Guides moved in the morning 
direct on the village, whilst the other troops were moving on the 
fort. It was occupied in force by the enemy, who were dislodged in 
a most spirited manner, and the place afterwards retained as com- 
manding the works of the fort, the men keeping up a sharp fire on all 
who showed themselves. The thanks of the Brigadier-General are 
due to Lieut. Hodson, not only for his services in the field, but for the 
information with which he furnished him, and he offers them to him 
and to his men." 



134 GUMROLAH. 

Jan. 1849. 

I have just completed the first series of my duties in 
this Doab, by driving the last party of the insurgents 
across the Chenab. 

As soon as I had settled matters a little at Deenanug- 
gur, and made some arrangements to prevent further 
troubles if possible, I crossed the Ravee again, and got 
upon the track of the rebel party who had given us so 
much trouble. On the 15th, I heard that a large party 
had collected at a village called Gumrolah (near Duffer- 
wal), but they had so many spies in my camp, that it was 
difiicult to avoid their ken ; at the same time their ten- 
dency to run away made a surprise the only feasible 
mode of reaching them. We therefore turned in as usual 
at night, but soon after midnight I aroused my men, and 
got them under arms and off before any one was aware 
of our move. I had with me one hundred of my Guides 
and fifteen sowars. 

We marched quietly but swiftly, all night, and came 
upon the insurgents just at daybreak. I had ridden 
forward about half a mile, with a couple of sowars, to 
reconnoitre, and got unobserved within 250 yards of the 
insurgents, numbering at least 150 horse and foot. 

They looked at me, and hesitated whether to come at 
me or not, apparently, while I beckoned to the remaining 
sowars to come up. I was in great hopes that they would 
have waited for ten minutes, by which time my men 
would have been up, with their rifles, and we should have 
given a good account of them. However, before five 
minutes had elapsed, they moved off sulkily like a herd 
of frightened deer, half alarmed, half in doubt. I saw 
at once that there was but one chance left, and deter- 



DESPERATE FIGHT. 135 

mined to go at them as I was, — though 15 to 150 is an 
imprudent attempt. 

The instant we were in motion they fled, and had gone 
half a mile before we could overtake them ; the mounted 
men got off, but a party of Akhalees * on foot stopped 
and fought us, in some instances very fiercely. One fine 
bold " Mhung " beat off four sowars one after another, 
and kept them all at bay, I then went at him myself, 
fearing that he would kill one of them. He instantly 
rushed to meet me like a tiger, closed with me, yelling, 
" Wah Gooroo ji," and accompanying each shout with a 
terrific blow of his tulwar. I guarded the three or four 
first, but he pressed so closely to my horse's rein that I 
could not get a fair cut in return. At length I pressed 
in my turn upon him so sharply that he missed his blow, 
and I caught his tulwar backhanded with my bridle hand, 
wrenched it from him, and cut him down with the right, 
having received no further injury than a severe cut across 
the fingers ; I never beheld such desperation and fury in 
my life. It was not human scarcely. By this time the 
rest of the party had gone a long way, and as we had 
already pursued farther than was prudent, whei'e the 
spectators even were armed, and awaiting the result, I 
was obliged to halt, not without a growl at General 
Wheeler for having left me without any men. We had 
killed one more than our own number, however, and five 
more were so severely wounded that they were removed 
on " charpoys." 

I insert here a portion of Sir F. Currie's de- 
spatch to the Governor-General with reference to 
this affair, with the Governor- General's reply. 

* Fanatics. 



136 THANKS OF GOVERNMENT. 

They will show the high opinion entertained at 
the time of my brother's services by his superiors. 

" Lahore Presidency, Jan. 6th, 1849. 

" The affair at Buddee Find was a most gal- 
lant one, — far more so than Lieutenant Hod- 
son's modest statement in his letter would lead 
me to suppose. I have accounts from parties 
who were eye-witnesses to the personal gallantry 
and energy of Lieutenant Hodson, by whose 
hand, in single conflict, the Akhalee, mentioned 
in paragraph 5, fell, after he had beaten off four 
horsemen of the 15th Native Cavalry, and to 
whose bold activity and indefatigable exertions, 
and the admirable arrangements made by him, 
with the small means at his disposal, the success- 
ful issue of this expedition is to be attributed." 

To this his Lordship replied as follows, through 
his secretary. 

From the Secretary to Government to Sir F. Currie, Bart. 

" Jan. Uth, 1849. 

" I am directed to request that you will convey 
to Lieutenant Hodson the strong expression of 
the Governor-General's satisfaction with his con- 
duct, and with the mode in which he discharges 
whatever duty is intrusted to him. The Gov- 
ernor-General has had frequent occasions of no- 
ticing the activity, energy, and intelligence of his 
proceedings, and he has added to the exercise of 
the same qualities on this occasion an exhibition 



HUNTING RAM SINGH. 137 

of personal gallantry which the Governor-General 
has much pleasure in recording and applauding, 
although Lieutenant Hodson has modestly re- 
frained from bringing it to notice himself. The 
Governor- General offers to Lieutenant Hodson 
his best thanks for these services. 

(Signed) " H. M. Elliott, 

" Secretary to the Government of India 
with the Governor- GeneraV 



Camp under the Hills on the Eavee, 
Jan. 18th, 1849. 

... A few days afterwards, Lumsden having joined me 
with our mounted men, we surprised and cut to pieces 
another party of rebels, for which we have again been 
thanked by Government. Since then I have been with 
Brigadier-General Wheeler's force again, employed in 
hunting after one Ram Singh and his followers, and have 
been day and night at work, — examining the hills and 
rivers, ti-ying fords, leading columns, and doing all the 
multifarious duties thrust on that unhappy combination 
of hard work, a " Guide " and " Political " in one. 
Ram Singh's position was stormed on the 16th, and I had 
been chosen to lead one of the principal columns of 
attack ; but we had to march by a circuitous route across 
the hills, darkness came on, accompanied by dreadful 
rain, the rivers rose and were impassable, and after 
twenty-four hours of the most trying work I ever experi- 
enced, in which cold, hunger, and wet were our enemies, 
we succeeded in reaching our ground just in time to be 
too late; however, I had done all that human nature 



138 HEIGHTS OF DULLAH. 

could effect under the circumstances, and one cannot 
always be successful. Two poor fellows, one a nephew 
of Sir R. Peel's, were killed ; otljerwise the loss w^as 
trifling on our side.* 

We have just received intelligence of another great 
fight between the army under Lord Gough and the 
Sikhs, t in which the latter, though beaten, seem to have 
had every advantage given away to them. Our loss has 
been severe, and the mismanagement very disgraceful, yet 
it will be called a victory and lauded accordingly. Oh 
for one month of Sir Charles Napier ! 



Deenanuggur, Feb. ith, 1849. 
I had one of my narrowest escapes two days ago : I went 
into Lahore for a few days to see Sir PL Lawrence (who 
is again the Resident), and laid relays of horses along the 
road to this place, so as to ride in at once. I left Lahore 
on the morning of the 31st, and stopping at Umritsur to 
breakfast, reached my camp at nightfall, having ridden 
one hundred miles in ten hours and a half. A party of 

* Extract from an Order issued by Brigadiee-General Wheeler, 
C. B., dated 

" Camp below Dullah, Jan. llih, 1849. 

" This order cannot be closed without the expression of the Briga- 
dier-General's high opinion of the services of Lieutenants Lumsden 
and Hodson, who have spared no labor to obtain for him an accurate 
knowledge of the mountain of Dullah and its approaches; and Lieu- 
tenant Hodson has entitled himself to the sincere thanks of the Brig- 
adier-General for his endeavors to lead a column to turn the enemy's 
position, which failed only from causes which rendered success im- 
practicable." 

t Chillianwalla, Jan. 13th, 1849. 



NARROW ESCAPE. 139 

Sikhs had collected at a village by the roadside to attack 
me and " polish " me off, but not calculating upon the 
rapidity of my movements, did not expect me until the 
morning. I am sorry to say that they surrounded my 
horses which were coming on quietly in the morning, 
asked for me, and finding I had escaped, stole my best 
horse (a valuable Arab, who had carried me in three 
fights), and bolted, not, however, without resistance, for 
two horsemen (Guides) of mine who were with the horse 
tried to save it. One got four wounds and the other es- 
caped unhurt. Had I ridden like any other Christian 
instead of like a sceptre horseman, and been the usual 
time on the road, I should have been " a body." We 
gave chase from hence as soon as we heard, and rode for 
eleven hours and a half in pursuit ! which was pretty 
well after a hundred miles' ride the day before. 

But my horse it is another's, 
And it never can be mine ! 



Camp, Wuzeekaba-d, Feb. 19tJi, 1849. 

I have at length reached the " army of the Punjaub," 
almost by accident, as it were, though I was most anxious 
to be present at the final grand struggle between the 
Khalsa and the British armies. I am at present with 
my men, attached to a brigade encamped on this (the 
left) bank of the Chenab, to prevent the enemy crossing 
until Lord Gough is ready to attack them on the right 
bank, where he is now encamped with his whole force 
minus our brigade. The Sikhs quietly walked away 
from him the other day, and instead of having their 
backs to the Jhelum, passed round his flank, and made 



140 BATTLE OF GOOJERAT. 

steadily for this place, intending, boldly enough, to march 
upon Lahore. I came across the Doab with a handful 
of men, and reached this place just as they took up a 
position on the opposite bank of the river. At the same 
moment a brigade arrived by a forced night-march from 
Ramnuggur, and, for the present, the Sikhs have been 
sold. Yet I should not be surprised at their evading us 
again, and going off to a higher ford. The game is get- 
ting very exciting, and I am quite enjoying the stir and 
bustle of two large armies in the field. The grand finale 
must, one would think, come off in a day or two. It is 
possible however that, as I say, the Sikhs may out-ma- 
noeuvre us and prolong the campaign. The Affghans 
have joined the Sikhs, contrary to the expectations of 
every one (but myself), and there is now no saying where 
the struggle will end. 

The Affghans are contemptible in the plains, generally 
speaking ; but numbers become formidable, even if armed 
with broomsticks. 

This was written two days before the decisive 
engagement of Goojerat, at which he was present, 
attached to the personal staff of the Commander- 
in-Chief. His letter, giving an account of the 
action, was unfortunately lost, but I subjoin a 
despatch from the Commander-in-Chief to the 
Governor- General : — 

" Camp, Kullala, March IBtJi, 1849. 

" On the re-perusal of my despatch relative to 
the operations of February 21st at Goojerat, I re- 
gret to find that I omitted to mention the names 
of Lieutenants Lumsden and Hodson of the 



LORD GOUGH'S DESPATCH. 141 

corps of Guides, and Lieutenant Lake of the 
Engineers, attached to the Political Department. 
These officers were most active in conveying 
orders throughout the action, and I now beg to 
bring their names to the favorable notice of your 
Lordship." 



CHAPTER V. 

ANNEXATION OP PUNJAUB. INCREASE OF CORPS OF 

GUIDES AT PESHAWUR. TRANSFER TO CIYIL DE- 
PARTMENT AS ASSISTANT COMMISSIONER. 

April VJih, 1849. 

You will have heard of the great events of the last 
month ; how on the 26th March, the Punjaub became 
" forever " a British Province, governed by a Trium- 
virate ; and how the Koh-i-noor was appi'opriated as a 
present to the Queen, — and all the rest of it ; you may 
imagine the turmoil and unrest of this eventful time ; but 
I defy you to imagine the confusion of the process which 
converts a wild native kingdom into a police-ridden and 
civilian-governed country. 

■ I had anticipated and wished for this measure. I did 
not, however, expect that it would be carried out so sud- 
denly and so sweepingly as it has been. .... 

I have been annexed as well as the Punjaub ! my " oc- 
cupation 's gone," and although efforts have been and are 
making for my restoration to " the department," yet at 
present I am shelved. I shall know more next month. 
Meanwhile, I am off with the new Commissioner to in- 
struct him in the details of his province, which I had 
governed and loon from the rebels during the last six 
months, but in which I am not now accounted worthy to 



ANNEXATION OF PUNJAUB. 143 

be a humble assistant. There 's fame ! Well, something 
will turn up, I suppose. I hope to I'emain here, however, 
under the Commissioner, for a time, that I may get ac- 
quainted with this wonderful civil system. It is as well 
to know how the mill works. 

I got quite fond of Lord Gough. I was his guest at 
Lahore for a noonth, and his noble character and fire 
made one condone his mistakes. 

We are now on the " qui vive " for his successor. I 
long for Sir C. Napier, but the Court of Directors seem 
determined to hold out. 

The Guides are at Peshawur, where I shall probably 
join them. 

Lieutenant Hodson's descent in position, upon 
the annexation of the Pnnjaub, was, perhaps, un- 
avoidable, though it was very natural that he 
should feel it. So soon as the country was placed 
under the government of the East India Com- 
pany, the regulations of the service with regard 
to seniority of course took effect, and it was not 
to be expected that a subaltern of less than five 
years'' standing should be continued in so impor- 
tant a charge, however well qualified he might 
have proved himself for it in the most trying 
times. His position altogether had been a pecu- 
fiar and exceptional one. 

We shall see, however, that his disappointment 
did not prevent his throwing himself with his 
usual energy into whatever duties were assigned 
to him. 



144 PESHAWUR. 



To his Brother. 



Peshawue, May 14<A, 1849. 

My stay here is very uncertain. I merely came to 
settle affairs with Lumsden relative to the increase of 
the Guides. Meantime, I have been much interested 
with my first visit to this Affghan province and to the 
Indus. You will see at once that though it gives us a 
very strong military frontier, only passable to armies in 
half a dozen points, and therefore infinitely less difficult 
to hold than a long line of river, which is ever " a silent 
highway for nations," yet at the same time we have once 
more established a footing in Affghanistan from which 
there is no receding, as we did when we went as allies 
to the puppet Shah Soojah. Our next stride must be to 
Herat, I fancy ; when the day will come no man can say, 
but " the uncontrollable principle," which, according to 
Sir R. Peel, took us there before, will not be the less ac- 
tive in its operation now that we have no longer the court 
and camp of Runjeet Singh between us and these wild 
tribes. It is to be hoped that " the uncontrollable princi- 
ple " will not appear so very like an wracontroUable want 
of it as it did in days gone by ! However, go we must, 
and shall some day, — so hurrah for Cabul ! 

I wish you would hit upon some plan for keeping me 
more " au fait " with the events of your home world. 
My time has been occupied so constantly since I came to 
India, that, though I may have made some progress in 
the knowledge of men, I have made but little in that of 
hoohs. We are sadly off for military works in English, 
and few sciences require more study than the art of war. 
You might get me a list of good woi'ks from the " United 



DRILLING GUIDES. 145 

Service Institution " at Charing Cross. I want the best 
edition of Caesar procurable ; also Xenophon and Arrian. 
I fancy the last has been A^ery well edited. 



Peshawur, June Sth, 1849. 

This is the first time I have written to you from 
AfFghanistan. Who shall say whence my letters may be 
directed within a few months. Are we to advance on 
Cabul and Candahar, and plant the Union Jack once 
more on the towers of Ghuznee ? or are we to lie peace- 
fully slumbering on the banks of the Indus? Are our 
conquests at an end ? or will it be said of Lord Dal- 
housie — 

Ultra et Garamantas et Iiidos 
Proferet imperium V 

My own belief is, that I shall live to see both the places 
I have mentioned, and Herat, occupied by British troops ; 
at least, I hope so. 

I think I told you how it had pleased the Governor- 
General to reward " my distinguished services," toils, 
troubles, and dangers, by kicking me out of the coach 
altogether. Did I not ? Well, after that close to my 
civil duties, after having " initiated " the new Commis- 
sioner into his duties, I was sent up hither to augment 
recruits and train the Guides. And now daily, morning 
and evening, I may be seen standing on one leg to con- 
vince their Affghan mind of the plausibility and elegance 
of the goose step. I am quite a sergeant-major just now, 
and you will well believe that your wandering brother is 
sufficiently cosmopolized to di'op with a certain " aplomb " 
7 



146 DEARTH OF BOOKS. 

into any line of life which may turn up in the course 
of his career. I was always fond of " soldiering," and 
there is a species of absurdity in dropping from the 
minister of a province into a drill-sergeant, which is 
enlivening. By the next mail I may have to report my 
transformation into some new animal. So " vive la 
gloire." 



Peshawub, July IQih, 1849. 
I hope that you got my letter about sending me books. 
There is a remarkable dearth of them here just now. 
You know it was a flying column which came on here 
after Goojerat, composed of regiments hurried up to the 
field from Bombay, Scinde, and Hindostan. They came in 
light marching order. Books are not a part of that style 
of equipment. Suddenly a Government order consigned 
them to Peshawur, for seven months at least, — 10,000 
men, with an unusually large' number of Europeans and 
officers, and no books ! Pleasant during the confinement 
caused by the hot season. I was better off, because, be- 
ing a nomad by profession, I carry a few books as a part 
even of the lightest equipment, but I have read them all 
till I am tired, except Shakspeare. My time is pretty 
fully occupied, but there are dozens of regimental officers 
who have not an hour's work in two days, and I do pity 
them from my heart. Then of course there are no ladies 
here, and consequently no society, or reunions, (as they 
are called when people live together,) and people are 
pitched headlong on to their own resources, and find thcQi 
very hard falling indeed! I have nothing personal to 
tell you, except that when the last mail went out I was in 
bed with a sharp attack of fever, which left me without 



NEWS OF SISTER'S DEATH. 147 

strength, flesh, or appetite, — a regular blazing eastern 
fever, the sort of thing which burns so fast, that if it don't 
stop quickly, it burns you well down into the socket, 
and leaves you there without strength to splutter or 
flicker, and you go out without the satisfaction of a last 
flare-up at expiring. I am thankful to say I am well 
again now, and picking up strength fast. 

They are increasing our corps of Guides to 1,000 men, 
so that I shall have enough on my hands, especially as 
our Commandant leaves almost everythmg to me. Sir H. 
Lawrence writes from Simla that I am to be appointed 
an Assistant Commissioner under the new Board of Ad- 
ministration. I was the only one of the late Assistants 
to the Resident who was not included at fii'st in the new 
regime. 



Lahore, Sept. 3d, 1849. 
On my arrival here I found your note of 18th June. 
You may imagine how wild I was with pleasure at 
seeing your handwriting again, as I had been deeply 
anxious since the arrival of my father's and George's 
letters of the 4th June. These brought me the first 
tidings of our darling's death. Happily I saw no news- 
paper by that mail, and the black edges first startled me 
from the belief that you were all well and happy. The 
blow was a bitter one indeed, and its utter suddenness 
was appalling. Indeed, the prevailing impression on my 
mind for days was simple unbelief of the reality of that 
sweet child's actual death. I have been so long alone, — 
home has been for so long a time more a pleasant dream 
than a reality, — I have been for so many a weary day, 
as it were, dead to you all, and the sense of separation has 



148 SIR H. LAWRENCE. 

grown so completely into one's being, that I find it diffi- 
cult to separate that which it is possible to see again from 
that which is impossible. Thus it seems to me incredible 
that any greater barrier can sever me from this darling 
child than that ever-present one which divides me from 
all of you. Can you understand this ? I know it to be 
a delusion, and yet I cannot shake it off. Yet 'tis a 
good delusion in one way. It deadens the sense of grief 
which the full realization of her death would overwhelm 
me with. 

I have been unfortunate again, and had a second sharp 
attack of fever since my arrival. I am about again, but 
not able to work. Sir H. Lawrence is very unwell ; I 
fear that his constitution is utterly broken down, and that 
he will either have to go away from India for two years 
or more, or that another hot season will kill him. He is 
ten years older in every respect than he was during our 
Cashmere trip in 1846. This is a hard, wearing, dry 
climate, which, though preferable to Hindostan, is destruc- 
tive to the weak and sickly. It is quite sad to feel how, 
little by little, one's strength and muscle and energy fade, 
and how one can perceive age creeping in upon one so 
early. 



Lahore, Sept. 2^th, 1849. 
You know that I have left the Guides (alas !) and have 
been transformed into a complete civilian, doomed to pass 
the rest of my career in the administrative and executive 
duties of the Government of this last acquisition of the 
English in India. To tell the truth, I had much rather 
have remained with the Guides ; a more independent, 
and very far pleasanter life, and I think one that will in 



COMMISSIONER'S DUTIES. 149 

the end be more distinguished. However, I was guided 
by Mr. Thomason's and Sir H. Lawrence's advice, and 
must take the consequences. It would be difficult to de- 
fine or explain the exact nature of my new calling, but 
in brief, you will comprehend that in their respective dis- 
tricts the Deputy Assistant Commissioners perform the 
whole of the judicial, fiscal, and magisterial duties which 
devolve upon the Government of a country in Europe, 
with the addition of collecting from the cultivators and 
landholders the rent of all lands under cultivation and- 
pasture, and the duties which in Europe devolve on an 
owner of landed property. Police, jails, quarter-sessions, 
committals to prison, jury, judge, excise, stamps, taxes, 
roads, bridges, ferries, woods and forests, and finally rent ! 
think what these imply, and you will form some idea of 
the employment of an official in the Punjaub under the 
" Board of Administration." I have not yet dipped very 
deep into this turbid stream of ever-recurring work, since 
the great amount of arrears consequent on the break-up 
of one Government, and the establishment of another, 
including the paying-up and discharge of vast civil and 
military establishments, have rendered it necessary to em- 
ploy any available head and pair of hands for some 
months at head-quarters. The army has fallen to my 
share, and I have to examine into the claims of innumer- 
able fine old hangers-on of the Lahore State to gi-ants or 
pensions, to record their rights, and report on them for 
the decision of Government. Then there are upwards of 
2,000 old women, wives and mothers of soldiers killed in 
war, whom I have to see and pay the pittance decreed by 
their masters. Loi'd Dalhousie, and his secretaries and 
officials, are stern and hard taskmasters, and are not un- 
worthily represented by the new Board, the only merciful 



150 UMRITSUR. 

member of which (Sir H. Lawrence) is left in a minority, 
and is, moreover, too ill to do much. 



Camp, Patankote, Jan. 21s<, 1850. 
I at length got away from Lahore on the 7th. I had 
been ordered merely to seek change of air, but Sir H. 
Lawrence was starting on a long tour of inspection, and 
offered me the option of accompanying him, and doing a 
little work by the way, which I very much preferred ; so 
here we are, after visiting the sacred city of Umritsur, 
and the scenes of my last year's adventures in Butala, 
Deenanuggur, and Shahpoor, all between the Ravee and 
Beas ; and are now on our way to the mountain stations 
of Kangra, &c. We then go to the westward again, and 
I hope to see 

Our coursers graze at ease, 

Beyond the blue Borysthenes, 

as I have dubbed the Indus, ere we again return to civil 
life, which does not suit my temperament or taste half as 
well as this more nomad life. I am able to ride again, 
though not quite with the same firmness, in the saddle as 
of yore. I have no doubt, however, that ere we do see 
the " Borysthenes," I shall be as " game " for a gallop of 
one hundred miles on end, as I was last year at this sea- 
son. 



Umeitsue, March ith, 1850. 
I am at last in a fair way of being stationary for a time 
at Umritsur, the sacred city of the Sikhs, and a creation 
entirely of their genius. Lahore, as of course you know, 



GETTING "ACCLIMATIZED." 151 

was the old Mussulman capital, and was not built by the 
Sikhs, though used by them as the seat of government 
and head-quarters of the ai'my. Umritsur is larger than 
Lahore by a third or more of people, and half as much 
again of space. It is five miles in circumference, very 
strongly fortified, and covered by the fortress of Govind- 
ghur on the west, and by a large fortified garden on the 
north. I am Assistant Commissioner under the Deputy 
Commissioner in charge of the district, Mr. Saunders, a 
civilian, a very nice sort of fellow, with an exceedingly 
pretty and nice wife. Mr. Montgomery is our Commis- 
sioner. I like all I have seen of him very much indeed. 
He is a very able man, and at the head of his service in 
many respects. Lahore is only about thirty-five miles 
hence, — quite within visiting distance in India. 

You must not talk of getting " acclimatized." There 
is no way of becoming so but by avoiding the climate as 
much as possible. I have had a bad time of it since I 
left Peshawur, three and a half months almost entirely 
on my back, which reduced me terribly. Then just as I 
was getting well, the other day I had a fit of jaundice, 
which has only just left me ; altogether, in health and in 
pi'ospects I have come " down in my luck " to a consid- 
erable extent ; not that, per se, I ought, as a subaltern of 
not quite five years' service, to grumble at my present 
position, if I was now starting in the line for the first 
time ; but I can't forget that I came into the Punjaub two 
years and a half ago, and have had no little of the " bur- 
den and heat of the day " to beai', when to do so required 
utter disregard of comfort and personal safety and of rest. 
It is now two years since I was made an Assistant to the 
Resident, and within a few months of that time I took 
absolute charge of a tract of country (in a state of war, 



152 SERVICES IN PUNJAUB. 

too) comprising three modern districts, in one of which 1 
am now playing third fiddle. Surely annexation was a 
" heavy blow and a great discouragement " to me, at 
least. In the military line, too, I have been equally un- 
lucky, from the fact of my services having been with de- 
tachments instead of with the main army. I held my 
ground (and cleared it of the enemy, too) for weeks, with 
only 120 men at my back, and when every officer, from 
General Wheeler downwards, entreated me to withdraw 
and give it up ; I fed 5,000 men and horses for six 
months by personal and unremitting exertion ; collected 
the revenues of the disturbed districts, and paid 15,000/. 
over and above, into the treasury, from the proceeds of 
property taken from the rebels. Besides this, I worked 
for General Wheeler so satisfactorily, that he has declared 
publicly that he could have done nothing without me. So 
much were the Sikhs enraged* at my proceedings, that 
party after party were sent to ^^ polish " me off, and at one 
time I couldn't stir about the country without having bul- 
lets sent at my head from every bush and wall. How- 
ever, I need not go on with the catalogue, I have been 
egotistical enough as it is. The " reward " for these ser- 
vices was losing my civil appointment, and being reduced 
to half pay or little more for three months, and the dis- 
tinction of being the only subaltern mentioned in de- 
spatches for whom nothing has been done either "in 
prcesenti" or "in prospectu." ''Had your name been 
Hay or Ramsay," said General Wheeler to me the other 

* Such an impression had my brother's daring and activity pi'o- 
duced upon the minds of the Siiilis, that several years afterwards it 
was found that the Silvh mothers still used his name as a threat of ter- 
ror to their children, reminding one of the border ballad, — 

Hark ye, hark ye, do not fret j's. 
The black Douglas shall not get ye. 



SYSTEM OF PROMOTION. 153 

day, " no honors, no appointments, no distinctions would 
have been considered too great to mark the services you 
have rendered to Government." Well, we shall live to 
see more wars, or I am sadly mistaken, and then — I 
leave you to finish the sentence. 

Speaking of the system of the Indian army : — 

March ISth, 1850. 

At the age at which officers become colonels and ma- 
jors, not one in fifty is able to stand the wear and tear 
of Indian service. They become still more worn in mind 
than in body. All elasticity is gone ; all energy and en- 
terprise worn out ; they become, after a fortnight's cam- 
paign, a burden to themselves, an annoyance to those 
under them, and a terror to every one but the enemy ! 
The officer who commanded the cavalry brigade which 
so disgraced the service at Chillianwalla, was not able to 
mount a horse without the assistance of two men. A 
brigadier of infantry, under whom I served during the 
three most critical days of the late war, could not see his 
regiment when I led his horse by the bridle until its nose 
touched the bayonets ; and even then he said faintly, 
" Pray which way are the men facing, Mr. Hodson ? " 
This is no exaggeration, I assure you. Can you wonder 
that our troops have to recover by desperate fighting, and 
with heavy loss, the advantages thrown away by the want 
of heads and eyes to lead them ? 

A seniority service, like that of the Company, is all 
very well for poor men ; better still for fools, for they 
must rise equally with wise men ; but for maintaining 
the discipline and efficiency of the army in time of peace, 
and hurling it on the enemy in war, there never was a 
system which carried so many evils on its front and face. 
7* 



154 DE. ARNOLD. 

I speak strongly, you will say, for I feel acutely ; 
though I am so young a soldier, yet the whole of my 
brief career has been spent in camps, and a year such as 
the last, spent in almost constant strife, and a great part 
of it on detached and independent command, teaches one 
lessons which thirty years of peaceful life, of parades and 
cantonments, would never impart. 

There ai'e men of iron, like Napier and Radetzky, 
aged men, whom nothing affects ; but they are just in 
sufficient numbers to prove the rule by establishing ex- 
ceptions. Depend upon it, that for the rough work of 
war, especially in India, your leaders must be young to 
be effective. 

If you could but see my beautiful rough and ready 
boys, with their dirt colored clothes and swarthy faces, 
lying in wait for a Sikh, I think it would amuse you not 
a little. I must try and send you a picture of them. 
Alas ! I am no longer a " Guide," but only a big- 
wig, administering justice, deciding disputes, imprisoning 
thieves, and assisting to hang highwaymen, like any other 
poor old, fat, respectable, humdrum justice of the peace 
in Old England. 



Umeitsue, April htli, 1850. 

I quite agree with all you say about Arnold. His loss 
was a national misfortune. Had he lived, he would have 
produced an impression on men's minds whose effects 
would have been felt for ages. As it is, the influence 
which he did produce has been most lasting and striking 
in its effects. It is felt even in India ; I cannot say more 
than that. 

You should come and live in India for five years if you 
wished to feel (supposing you ever doubted it) the benefit 



INFLUENCE OF OUTWARD FORMS. 155 

of our " established " forms of Christianity. Even the 
outward signs and tokens of its profession — cathedrals, 
churches, colleges, tombs, hospitals, almshouses — have, 
I am now more than ever convinced, an influence on 
men's minds and principles and actions which none but 
those who have been removed from their influence for 
years can feel or appreciate thoroughly. The more I 
think of this, the more strongly I feel the effect of mere 
external sights and sounds on the inner and better man. 
Our Gothic buildings, our religious-looking churches, have, 
I am sure, a more restraining and pacifying influence than 
is generally believed by those who are habituated to them, 
and have never felt the want of them. A few cathedrals 
and venerable-looking edifices would do wonders in our 
colonies. Here we have nothing physical to remind us 
of any creed but Islamism and Hindooism. The com- 
parative purity of the Moslem's creed is shown admirably 
in the superiority in taste and form of their places of 
prayer. Christianity alone is thrust out of sight ! A 
barrack-room, a ball-room, a dining-room, perhaps a court 
of justice, serve the purpose for which the " wisdom and 
piety of our ancestors " constructed such noble and stately 
temples ; feeling, justly, that the human mind in its weak- 
ness required to be called to the exercise of devotion by 
the senses as well as by reason and will ; that separation 
from the ordinary scenes of every-day life, its cares, its 
toils, its amusements, is necessary to train the feelings 
and thoughts to that state in which religious impressions 
are conveyed. I have not seen a church for three years 
and more, nor heard the service of the Church read, save 
at intervals, in a room in which, perhaps, the night before, 
I had been crushed by a great dinner party, or worn out 
by the bustle and turmoil of suitors. The building in 
which one toils becomes intimately associated with the 



156 SIR C. NAPIER. 

toil itself. That in which one prays should at least have 
some attribute to remind one of prayer. Human nature 
shrinks for long from the thought of being buried in any 
but consecrated ground ; the certainty of lying dead some 
day or other on a field of battle, or by a roadside, has, I 
have remarked, the most strange effect on the soldier's 
mind. Depend upon it the same feeling holds good with 
regard to consecrated places of worship. You may think 
this fanciful, but I am sure you would feel it more strongly 
than I do, were you to live for a time in a country where 
everything hut religion has its living and existent memo- 
rials and evidences. 

But to return to reality : I have just spent three days 
in Sir Chaides Napier's camp, it being my duty to accom- 
pany him through such parts of the civil district as he 
may have occasion to visit. He was most kind and cor- 
dial, vastly amusing and interesting, and gave me even a 
higher opinion of him than before. To be sure his lan- 
guage and mode of expressing himself savor more of 
the last than of this century, — of the camp than of the 
court ; but barring these eccentricities, he is a wonderful 
man ; his heart is as thoroughly in his work, and he takes 
as high a tone in all that concerns it, as Arnold did in his ; 
that is to say, the highest the subject is capable of. I only 
trust he will remain with us as long as his health lasts, 
and endeavor to rouse the army from the state of slack 
discipline into which it has fallen. On my parting with 
him he said, " Now, remember, Hodson, if there is any 
way in which I can be of use to you, pray don't scruple to 
write to me." I didn't show him his brother's * letter, — 
that he might judge for himself first, and know me " per 
se," or rather " per me ; " I will, however, if ever I see 
him again. 

* Sir W. Napier. 



CHAPTER VI. 

TOUR IN CASHMERE AND THIBET WITH SIR HENRT 

LAWRENCE. PROMOTION AND TRANSFER TO CIS- 

SUTLEJ PROVINCES. 

Camp, en route to Cashmere, June 10th, 1850. 
Your letter from Paris reached me just as I was 
preparing to start from Umritsur to join Sir Henry 
Lawrence, and accompany him to Cashmere. I fought 
against the necessity of leave as long as possible, but I 
was getting worse and worse daily, and so much weak- 
ened from the effects of heat and hard work acting on a 
frame already reduced by sickness, that I was compelled 
to be off ere worse came. We yesterday arrived at the 
summit of the first high ridge southward of the snowy 
range, and have now only some sixty miles to traverse 
before entering the valley. To me, travelling is life, and 
in a country where one has no home, no local attractions, 
and no special sympathies, it is the greatest comfort in 
the world. I get terribly ennuye if I am in one place 
for three months at a time ; yet I think I should be just 
as tame as ever in England, quite domestic again. 



Cashmere, July 8ih, 1850. 
You would enjoy this lovely valley extremely. I did 
not know it was so beautiful, having only seen it before 



158 CASHMERE. 

in its winter dress. Nothing can exceed the luxuriant 
beauty of the vegetation, the plane-trees and walnuts espe- 
cially, except the squalor, dirt, and poverty of the wretch- 
ed Cashmerians. The King is avaricious, and is old. 
The disease grows on him, and he wont look beyond his 
money-bags. Thei-e is a capitation tax on every individ- 
ual practising any labor, trade, profession, or employ- 
ment, collected daily. Fancy the Londoners having to 
go and pay a fourpenny and a sixpenny bit each, per 
diem, for the pleasure of living in the town. Then the 
tax on all shawls, goods, and fabrics, is about seventy-five 
per cent., including custom duty ; and this the one soli- 
tary staple of the valley. The chief crops are i-ice, and 
of this, what with one half taken at a slap as " revenue," 
or rent, and sundiy other pulls for dues, taxes, and offer- 
ings, so little remains to the farmei", that in practice he 
pays all, or within a few bushels of all, his produce to 
the King, and secures in return his food, and that not of 
the best. Thus the farmer class, or " Zemindars," are 
reduced pretty well to the state of day-laborers ; yet the 
people are all well clothed, and fuel is to be had for the 
asking. What a garden it might be made. Not an acre 
to which the finest water might not be conveyed without 
expense worth naming, and a climate where all produce 
comes to perfection, from wheat and barley to grapes and 
silk. We go northwards on the 20th, first to Ladakh 
and Thibet, thence to Iskardo, and then across the Indus 
to Gilghit, a terra incognita to which, I believe, only one 
European now living has penetrated. Sir Henry Law- 
rence is not well, and certainly not up to this trip, but he 
has made up his mind to go. I do not gain strength as 
fast as I could wish, but I fancy when once thoroughly 
unstrung, it takes a long time to recover the wonted tone. 



THIBET. 159 

We shall have another frontier war in the cold weather 
evidently, and I fancy a more prolonged and complete 
affair than the last. The cause of the only loss sustained 
in the last scrimmage was the panic of the Sepoys. 
They are as children in the hands of these Affghans and 
hill tribes. Our new Punjaub levies fought " like bricks," 
but the Hindostanee is not a hardy enough animal, phys- 
ically or morally, to contend with the sturdier races west 
of the Sutlej, or the active and fighting " Pathans." The 
very name sticks in John Sepoy's throat. I must try and 
see the next contest, but I do not quite see my way to 
it at present. 



To his Sister. 

Camp, near Ladakh, August 4ih, 1850. 
Who would have thought of my writing to you from 
Thibet. I am sitting in a little tent about eight feet long, 
which just takes a narrow cot, a table, and chair of camp 
dimensions, and my sac-de-nuit, gun, &c., and a tin bos 
containing books, papers, and the materials for this pres- 
ent epistle. Under the same tree (a veritable chestnut) 
is Sir Henry Lawrence's tent, a ditto of mine, in which 
he is comfortably sleeping, as I ought to be ; outside are 
my pets, — that is, a string of mules who accompany me 
in all my travels, and have also in the mountains the 
honor of carrying me as well as my baggage. The 
kitchen is under a neighboring tree ; and round a fire are 
squatting our gallant guards, a party of Mahai'aja Gholab 
Singh's household brigade. Some of his people accom- 
pany us, and what with followers, a Moonshee or two for 
business, and their followers, I dare say we are a party 
of two or three hundred souls, of all colors and creeds, — • 



160 STRANGE MEETING. 

Christians, Mussulmans, Hindoos, Buddhists, Sikhs, and 
varieties of each. The creeds of the party are as varied 
as their colors ; and that's saying a good deal, when you 
contrast my white face and yellow hair with Sir Henry's 
nut-brown, the pale white parchmenty-color of the Kash- 
raeree, the honest brunette tinge of the tall Sikh, the clear 
olive-brown of the Rajpoot, down through all shades of 
dinginess to the deep black of the low-caste Hindoo. I 
am one of the whitest men in India, I fancy, as, instead 
of burning in the sun, I get blanched like endive or 
celery. How you would stare at my long beard, mous- 
tache, and whiskers. However, to return from such per- 
sonalities to facts. The Indus is brawling along five 
hundred feet below us, as if in a hurry to get " out of 
that ; " and above, one's neck aches with trying to see to 
the top of the vast craggy mountains which confine the 
stream in its rocky channel. So wild, so heaven-forsaken 
a scene I never beheld; living nature there is none. 
In a week's journey, I have seen three marmots, two 
wag-tails, and three jackdaws ; and we have averaged 
twenty miles a day. 

We met a lady the other day, in the most romantic 
way possible, in the midst of the very wildest of glens, 
and almost as wild weather. She is a young and very 
pretty creature, gifted with the most indomitable energy 
and endurance (except as regards her husband, whom she 
canH endure, and therefore travels alone). But conceive, 
that for the last three months she has been making her 
way on pony-back across a country which few men would 
like to traverse, over the most formidable passes, the 
deepest and rapidest rivers, and wildest deserts in Asia. 
For twenty days she was in the extreme wilds of Thibet, 
without ever seeing a human habitation ; making such 



THIBET. 161 

long day's journeys as often to be without food or bed- 
ding, traversing passes from sixteen to eighteen thousand 
feet above the sea, where you can hardly breathe without 
pain ; enduring pain, sickness, and every other mortal ill, 
yet persevering still ! Poor creature, she is dying, I fear. 
It is evident that she is in a deep consumption, created 
by a terrible fall she had down a precipice, at the com- 
mencement of her journey. Well, one day we met her 
between this place and Cashmere. She was sixteen or 
twenty miles from her tents, and the rain and darkness 
were coming on apace; the thermometer down below 
fifty degrees. So we persuaded her to stop at our en- 
campment. I gave her my tent and cot, acted lady's 
maid, supplied her with warm stockings and shoes, 
water, towels, brushes, &c., and made her comfortable, 
and then we sat down to dinner ; and a pleasanter 
evening I never spent. She was as gay as a lark, and 
poured out stores of information and anecdotes, and 
recounted her adventures in the " spiritedest " manner. 
After an early breakfast the next morning, I put her on 
her pony, and she went on her way, and we saw her no 
more. I hope she will live to reach the end of her 
journey, and not die in some wild mountain-side unat- 
tended and alone. 

Aaother letter of same date : — 

Camp, Kulsee in Ladakh, August Hh, 1850. 
• • • • Until you cross the mountain chain which sep- 
arates Cashmere from Tibet (or Thibet), all is green and 
beautiful. It is impossible to imagine a finer combination 
of vast peaks and masses of mountain, with green sloping 
lawns, luxuriant foliage, and fine clustering woods, than 



162 LLAMA MONASTERIES. 

is displayed on the sides of the great chain which we 
usually call the Himalaya, but which is better described 
as the ridge which separates the waters of the Jhelum, 
Chenab, Ravee, and Beas from those of the Indus. 
When once, however, you have crossed this vast barrier, 
the scene changes as if by magic, and you have nothing 
but huge convulsive-looking masses of rock, tremendous 
mountains, glaciers, snow, and valleys which are more 
vast watercourses than anything else. On the more open 
and less elevated spots along these various feeders of the 
Indus, one comes to little patches of cultivation, rising 
from the banks of the rivers in tiers of carefully pre- 
pared terraces, and irrigated by channels carried along 
the sides of the hill from a point higher up the stream. 
Here, in scattered villages ten and twenty miles apart, 
live the ugliest race on earth, I should imagine, whom 
we call Thibetians, but who style themselves " Bhots " or 
" Bhods," and unite the characteristic features, or rather 
want of them, of both Goorkhas and Chinese. I went 
yesterday to see a monastery of their Llamas, the most 
cui'ious sight, as well as site, I ever beheld. Perched on 
the summit of a mass of sandstone-grit, conglomerate 
pudding-stone, worn by the melting snows (for there is 
no rain in Tibet) into miraculous cones, steeples, and pin- 
nacles rising abruptly from the valley to the height of 
600 feet, are a collection of queer little huts, connected 
together by bridges, passages, and staircases. In these 
dwell the worthies who have betaken themselves to the 
life of religious mendicants and priests. They seem to 
correspond exactly with the travelling friars of olden 
times. Half stay at home to perform chants and services 
in their convent chapel, and half go a-begging about the 
country. They are not a distinct race like the Brahmins 



LLAMA MONASTERIES. 163 

of India, but each Bhot peasant devotes one of two or 
three sons to the church, and he is thenceforward devoted 
to a hfe of celibacy, of shaven crown, of crimson apparel, 
of mendicancy, of idleness, and of comfort. They all 
acknowledge spiritual allegiance to the great Llama at 
Llassa (some two months' journey from Ladakh), by 
whom the abbot of each convent is appointed on a va- 
cancy occurring, and to whom all their proceedings are 
reported. Nunneries also exist on precisely the same 
footing. I saw a few of the nuns, and their hideous ap- 
pearance fully justified their adoption of celibacy and 
seclusion. From their connection with almost every 
family, as I have said, they are universally looked up to 
and supported as a class by the people. Even Hindoos 
reverence them ; and their power is not only feared, but 
I fancy tolerably freely exercised. Their chapel (a flat- 
roofed square building supported on pillars) is furnished 
with parallel rows of low benches to receive the squatting 
fathers. Their services consist of chants and recitative, 
accompanied by the discord of musical (?) instruments and 
drums, while pei'petual lamps burn on the altars before 
their idols, and a sickly perfume fills the air. Round the 
room are rude shelves containing numberless volumes of 
religious books ; not bound, but in separate leaves secured 
between two painted boards. I will try and send you 
one, if I can corrupt the mind of some worthy Llama 
with profane silver. They are genuine block books, 
strange to say, apparently carved on wood, and then 
stamped on a Chinese paper. The figures of their ira 
ages, and their costume and head-dress (i. e., of the im- 
ages), are Chinese entirely, not at all resembling the 
Bhot dress, or scarcely so, and though fashioned by 
Thibetian hands, you might fancy yourself gazing on the 



164 JOURNEY TO ISKARDO. 

figures in the Chinese Exhibition at Hyde-Park Corner. 
Their language is a sealed book to me, of course, and 
though they all read and write well, yet they were un- 
able to explain the meaning of the words they were 
repeating. The exterior appearance and sites of their 
conventual buildings reminded me very strongly of the 
drawings I saw in a copy of Curzon's " Monasteries of the 
Levant," which fell in my way for five minutes one day. 
I need hardly say that, in a country composed of moun- 
tains ranging from 14,000 feet upwards, the scenery is 
magnificent in the extreme, though very baiTcn and 
savage. Apricots and wheat are ripening in the valley 
whence I now write (on the right bank of the Indus, 
some fifty miles below the town of Ladakh), and snow is 
glistening on the summits above me ; the roads have 
been very easy indeed, and enabled us to make long 
day's marches, from sixteen to twenty-five miles. This 
is more than you could do in two days in the ranges 
south of the Himalaya, with due regard for your own 
bones, and the cattle or porters which carry your traps 
and tents. I am very seedy, and twenty miles is more 
than I can ride with comfort (that I should live to say 
it). I have not as yet derived much, if any, benefit from 
change of climate. 

From Ladakh we go to Iskardo, some twelve marches 
lower down the Indus, where it has been joined by the 
water of Yarkund ; and thence to Gilghit, a valley run- 
ning up from that of the Indus, still lower down, and 
bordering on Budakhstan. We (Sir Henry Lawrence 
and I) then return to Cashmere ; I expect it will be two 
more months' journey. We have already been out a 
fortnight, and it is very fatiguing. I am not sure that I 
was wise in undertaking it, but he (Lawrence) is a 



LADAKH. 165 

greater invalid than I am, and two or three men fought 
shy of the task of accompanying him. 



Camp, Iskaedo (in Little Thibet,) 
Aufjust, 2atl>, 1850. 

Only think of my sitting down peaceably to write to 
you from this outside world. Had I lived a hundred 
years ago, I should have been deemed a great traveller, 
and considered to have explored unknown countries, and 
unknown they are, only the principal danger of visiting 
them is past, seeing that they have been subdued by a 
power (Gholab Singh) with whom we have "relations." 
Yet if I were to cross the mountains which stare me in 
the face a few miles off, I should be carried off and sold 
for a slave. It were vain to try to compress the scenes 
of a two months' journey into a sheet of note-paper. We 
have travelled very rapidly. Few men go the pace Sir 
Henry Lawrence does. So we have covered a great ex- 
tent of country in the past month ; and seeing that the 
valleys are the only inhabited parts of the country, the 
rest being huge masses of mountains, one really sees in 
these rapid flights all that is to be seen of the abodes of 
man. We have collected a good deal of information too, 
which, if I had time to arrange it, might be of value. 
We were eleven long days' journey from Cashmere to 
Ladakh, besides halts on the way at Ladakh itself, or, as 
the people call it, Leh. We remained a week, and saw 
all the " foreigners " who came there to sell furs and silk. 
It is called the " Great Emporium " of trade between 
Yarkund and Kashgar and Llassa, and Hindostan. Fine 
words look well on paper, but to my unsophisticated mind 



166 LADAKH. 

the " leading merchants " seemed peddlers, and the " Em- 
porium " to be a brace of hucksters' shops. However, 'tis 
curious, that's a fact, to see (and talk to) a set of men 
who have got their goods from the yellow-haired Russians 
at the Nishni-Novogorod fair, and brought them across 
Asia to sell at Ladakh. It is forty days' journey, of al- 
most a continuous desert, for these caravans from Yarkund 
to Leh ; and there is no small danger to life and limb by 
the way. The current coin is lumps of Chinese sycee 
silver of two pounds' weight each. I bought a Persian 
horse for the journey, and paid for it in solid silver four 
pounds' weight : 166 rupees, or about 16Z. I shall sell it 
for double the money when the journey is over. Leh is 
a small town, of not more than 400 houses, on a project- 
ing promontory of rock stretching out into the valley 
formed by one of the small feeders of the Indus. For 
the people, they are Bodhs, and wear tails, and have flat 
features like the Chinese, and black garments. The 
women, unlike other Asiatics whom I have seen, go about 
the streets openly, as in civilized countries ; but they are 
an ugly race, and withal dirty to an absolutely unparal- 
leled extent. They wear no head-dress, but plait their 
masses of black hair into sundry tails half way down 
their backs. Covering the division of the hair from the 
forehead back and down the shoulders, is a narrow 
leathern strap, universally adoi'ned with rough turquoises 
and bits of gold or silver. The old Ranee whom we 
called upon had on this strap (in her case a broader one, 
about three fingers wide) 156 large turquoises, worth 
some hundreds of pounds. Over their ears they wear 
flaps of fur which project forward with precisely the 
effect of blinkers on a horse. 

The climate is delightful ; it never rains ; the sky is 



ISKARDO. 167 

blue to a fault, and snow only falls sparingly in winter, 
though the climate is cold, being 10,000 feet (they say) 
above the sea. In boiling water the thermometer was 
only 188°. I never felt a more exhilarating air. That 
one week quite set me up, and I have been better ever 
since. The Llamas or monks, with their red cardinal's 
hats and crimson robes, look very imposing and monastic, 
quite a travesty of the regular clergy, and they blow just 
such trumpets as Fame does on monuments in country 
churches. Jolly friars they are, and fat to a man. From 
Leh we crossed the mountain ridge which separates the 
two streams of the Indus, and descended the northern (or 
right) streaui to this place, the capital of Bultistan or 
Little Thibet. It is a genuine humbug. In the middle 
of a fine valley, some 6,000 feet above the sea, surround- 
ed by sudden rising perpendicular mountains 6,000 feet 
higher, stands an isolated rock washed by the Indus, 
some two miles by three quartei's : a little Gibraltar. 
The valley may be ten miles by three, partially culti- 
vated, and inhabited by some 200 scattered houses. 
There's Iskardo. There was a fort on the rock, but that 
is gone, and all, as usual in the East, bespeaks havoc ; 
only nature is grand here. The people are Mussulmans, 
and not Bodhs, and are more human-looking, but not so 
well clad. It is warmer by far, much more so than it 
ought to be. The thermometer was at 92° in our tents 
to-day, a thing for which I cannot possibly account, since 
there is snow now on all sides of us. We go hence 
across the Steppe of Deo Sole towards Cashmere for four 
days' journey, and then strike westward to cross the In- 
dus into Gilghit, whence we return to Cashmere by the 
end of September. We have been making very fast 
marches, varying from sixteen to thirty-two miles a day, 



168 SIE HENRY'S SUGGESTION 

— hard work in a country with such roads, and where 
you must take things with you. I enjoy it very much, 
however, and after a yeai^'s sickness, the feeling of return- 
ing health is refreshing. I shall return to work again by 
the 1st of December ; but I propose paying a flying visit 
to Mr. Thomason in October, if possible ; but the dis- 
tances are so vast, and tlie means of locomotion so absent, 
that these things are difficult to achieve. I suppose I 
have seen more of the hill country now than ninety-nine 
men out of a hundred in India. Indeed, not above four 
Europeans have been here before. But travelling suits 
my restless spirit. Sir Henry and I get on famously 
together. 

On October 7th, 1850, he writes from Simla to 
his father : — 

I have had a long and fatiguing march from Cashmere 
across the mountains and the valleys of the " five rivers," 
nearly four hundred miles, which I accomplished in fifteen 
days. I left Sir Henry Lawrence in Cashmere. I have 
since heard from him, urging me to use all the influence I 
can muster up here to procure a brevet majority in posse 
(i. e. on attaining my regimental captaincy), and a local 
majority in esse for " my services in the late war ; " and 
adding, that if I did not find civil employment to suit me, 
he would, when I had given it a fair trial, try and get me 
the command of one of the regiments in the Punjaub. I 
am going to consult Mr. Thomason on the subject, and 
will let you know the result. I hate the least suspicion 
of toadyism, and dislike asking favors, or I should have 
been better off ere now ; but on Sir Henry Lawrence's 
suggestion, I will certainly use any opportunity which 



INFLUENCE OVER GUIDES. 169 

may offer. I thought, however, you would be gratified 
with the opinion which mvist have dictated so perfectly 
spontaneous an offer. I confess that I very much prefer 
the military line myself, although I like civil work much, 
and it is the road to competence. Nevertheless, military 
rank and distinctions have more charm for me than 
rupees ; and I would rather cut my way to a name and 
poverty Avith the sword, than ^vrite it to wealth with the 
pen. 

There is something to me peculiarly interesting in the 
forming and training soldiers, and in acquiring that ex- 
ti'aordinary influence over their minds, both by personal 
volition and the aid of discipline, which leads them on 
through danger, even to death, at your bidding, I felt 
the enthusiasm of this power successfully exerted with 
the Guides during the late war ; and having felt it, am 
naturally inclined to take advantage of it on future occa-* 
sions. 



To Ms Sister. 

Simla, Oct. 21si, 1850. 

It is rather too late to tell you " all about Cashmere," 
as you desire ; but I can say that I saw some beauties 
this time who were really so to no common extent ; and 
that I was much more pleased with the valley than on 
my first visit, which was a winter one. If you see what 
wonderfully out-of-the-way places we got into, I think 
you will marvel that I managed to write at all. We 
traversed upwards of fifteen hundred miles of wild moun- 
tainous countries, innocent of roads, and often, for days 
together, of inhabitants, and carrying our houses on our 
backs. The change to the utter comfort and civilization 



170 MR. THOMASON. 

of this house was something " stunning ;" and I have not 
yet become quite reconciled to dressing three times a day, 
black hat, and patent leather boots. I need hardly say, 
however, that I have very much enjoyed my visit and my 
" big talks " with Mr. Thomason, He is very gray, and 
looks older than when I saw him in 1847, but otherwise 
he is just the same, working magnificently, and doing- 
wonders for his province. Already the Northwest Prov- 
inces are a century in advance of the Bengal Proper 
ones. As a Governor he has not his equal ; and in hon- 
esty, high-mindedness, and indefatigable devotion to the 
public good, he is facile princeps of the whole Indian ser- 
vice. Nor is there a household in India to match his, 
indeed, it is about the only "big- wig" house to which 
people go with pleasure rather than as a duty. I saw 
Sir Chai-les Napier, too, and dined with him last week. 
He is very kind and pleasant, and I am very sorry on 
public grounds that he is going away. 



KussowLEE, Nov. itii, 1850. 
I had a most pleasant home-like visit to Mr. Thomason, 
and was most affectionately entertained. He will have 
told you of the power of civility I met with at Simla fiora 
the " big-wigs," and that even Lord Dalhousie waxed 
complimentary, and said that " Lumsden and Hodson 
were about the best men he had," (that I write it that 
shouldn't !) and that he promised to do his best to get me 
a brevet majority as soon as I became, in the course of 
time, a regimental captain. And Sir Charles Napier 
(the best abused man of his day) was anxious to get for 
me the Staff appointment of Brigade-Major to the Pun- 



APPOINTMENT TO CIS-SUTLEJ STATES. 171 

jaiib Irregular Force, — i. e., of the six newly raised cav- 
alry and infantry I'egiments for frontier service. He did 
not succeed, for the berth had been previously filled up 
unknown to him ; but he tried to do so, and that's a com- 
pliment from such a man. I hope I need not say that 
this good deed of his was as spontaneous as a mush- 
room's birth. 



To his Father. 

KussowLEE, Nov. eth. 

I am to be here next year, I find, by tidings just re- 
ceived, which will be a splendid thing for my constitution. 
My connection with Umritsur is dissolved by my having 
been appointed to act as personal assistant to the Com- 
missioner of the Cis-Sutlej States, which is, I believe, a 
piece of promotion. The great advantages are, first, the 
capital opportunity it affords of experience in every kind 
of civil work, and of being under a very able man, — 
Mr. Edmonstone ; and secondly, that the Commissioner's 
head-quarters are " peripatetic " in the cold weather, 
and in the hills during the remainder of the year. But 
I confess that I hanker after the " Guides " as much as 
ever, and would catch at a good opportunity of returning to 
them with honor. I fear I have been remiss in explana- 
tions on this subject. The matter lies in this wise, — I 
left the Corps and took to civil employment at the advice 
of Sir Henry Lawrence, Mr. Thomason, and others, 
though against my own feelings on the subject. The 
man or men who succeeded me are senior to me in army 
rank. When one of them resigned six months ago, I 
was strongly disposed and urged to try and succeed to 
the vacancy. There was a hitch, however, from the 



172 ' UMRITSUR. 

cause I have mentioned, and Lumsden was anxious that 
his heutenants should not be disgusted by supersession. 
I might liave had the appointment, but withdrew to avoid 
annoying Lumsden. Now, both Sir Henry Lawrence 
and Mr. Thomason are very sorry that I ever left the 
Corps, and that they advised the step. Things have 
taken a different turn since then, and it is confessedly the 
best thing a young soldier can aspire to. I know that my 
present line is one which leads to more pecuniary advan- 
tages ; but the other is the finer field, and is far move 
independent. I shall work away, however, cheerfully in 
the civil line until I see a good opening in the other ; and 
then, I fear you will hardly persuade me that sitting at a 
desk with the thermometer at 98^ is better than soldier- 
ing, — i. e., than commanding soldiers made and taught by 
yourself! I will give you the earliest warning of the 
change. 



Umeitsur, Nov. iith, 1850. 
I returned here on the 16th, and have been up to the 
neck in work ever since, having the whole work, civil, 
criminal, police, &c. &c., on my shoulders, Saunders, the 
Deputy Commissioner, my superior, being engaged danc- 
ing attendance on the Governor-General, who is here on 
his annual tour of inspection ; and Macleod, my co-assist- 
ant, dead. Directly the Governor- General has gone on- 
wards I shall be relieved here, and join my new appoint- 
ment with Mr. Edmonstone. 



LAHORE. 173 

Lahore, Jan. 2d, 1851. 
I bi'oke up from Umritsur early in December, and 
came into Lahore to join my new chief. He did not 
arrive till the 18th, so I had a comparative holiday. I 
have got into harness, however, again now, and am up to 
the elbows in work and papers. The work is much more 
pleasant than that I had at Umritsur, and more free from 
mere routine. 



Lahoee, Feb. 21st. 
This is an interesting anniversary to many of us, and 
an ovei'whelming one to this country, — that of the day 
on which " the bright star of the Punjaub " set forever. It 
has been curiously marked by the announcement, that the 
net balance of receipts over expenditure for the past year, 
for the newly acquired provinces, has reached upwards of 
a million sterling. Lord Dalhousie's star is in the ascend- 
ant. His financial measures are apparently all good, 
when tried by the only standard admissible in the nine- 
teenth century, — their success. 



KussowLEE, March 22d, 1851. 
I broke down again most completely as soon as the 
hot weather began, but my flight to this beautiful climate 
has wonderfully refreshed me. Talk of Indian luxuries ! 
There are but two, cold water and cool air ! I get on 
very comfortably with my new " Chief" He is a first- 
rate man, and has a most uncommon appetite for work, of 
which there is plenty for both of us. We cover a good 



174 SOLDIER'S PROFESSION. 

stretch of country — comprising five British districts and 
nine sovereign states ; and as the whole has been in 
grievous disorder for many years, and a peculiarly difS- 
cult population to deal with, you may imagine that the 
woi'k is not slight. My principal duty is hearing appeals 
from orders and decisions by the district officers in these 
five districts. It is of course not " per se," but as the 
Commissioner's personal assistant, that I do this. I pre- 
pare a short abstract, with my opinion on each case, and 
he issues his orders accordingly. I was at work a whole 
day lately over one case, which, after all, involved only a 
claim to about a quarter of an acre of land ! You will 
give me credit for ingenuity in discovering that the result 
of some half dozen quires of written evidence was to 
prove that neither of the contending parties had any right 
at all! If that's not "justice to Ireland," I don't know 
what is ! I have been staying with Captain Douglas, and 
I hope I shall see a great deal of him. There is not a 
better man or more genuine soldier going. This may 
appear faint praise, but rightly understood, and conscien- 
tiously and boldly worked out, I doubt whether any other 
profession calls forth the higher qualities of our nature 
more strongly than does that of a soldier in times of 
war and tumults. Certain it is that it requires the high- 
est order of man to be a good general, and in the lower 
ranks, (in this country especially,) even with all the 
frightful drawbacks and evils, I doubt whether the 
Saxon race is ever so preeminent, or its good points 
so strongly developed, as in the " European " soldier 
serving in India, or on service anywhere. 



KUSSOWLEE. 175 



KussowLEE, April 7th, 1851. 
I have the nicest house here on a level spot on the 
very summit of the mountain ridge, from which a most 
splendid view is obtainable for six months in the year. 
In the immediate foreground rises a round-backed ridge, 
on which stands the former work of my hands, the " Law- 
rence Asylum ; " while to the westward, and down, down 
far off in the interminable south, the wide glistening 
plains of the Punjaub, streaked with the faint ribbon-like 
lines of the Sutlej and its tributaries, and the wider sea- 
like expanse of Hindostan, stretch away in unbroken 
evenness beyond the limits of vision, and almost beyond 
those of faith and imagination. On the other side you 
look over a mass of mountains up to the topmost peaks 
of Himalaya. So narrow is the ridge, that it seems as 
though you could toss a pebble from one window into the 
Sutlej, and from the other into the valley below Simla. I 
like the place very much. I have seven or eight hours' 
work every day, and the rest is spent (as this one) in the 
society of the 60 th Rifles, the very nicest and most gentle- 
manly regiment I ever met with. 



KussowLEE, May ith, 1851. 

Your budget of letters reached me on the 2d. It is 
very pleasant to receive these warm greetings, and it I'e- 
freshes me when bothered, or overworked, or feverish, or 
disgusted. I look forward to a visit to England and home 
with a pleasure which nothing but six years of exile can 
give. 

The Governor- General has at last advanced me to the 



176 KUSSOWLEE. 

higher grade of " Assistants " to Commissioners. The 
immediate advantage is an increase of pay, — the real 
benefit, that it brings me nearer the main step of a 
Deputy Commissioner in charge of a district. It is satis- 
factory, not the less so that it was extorted *from him by 
the unanimity of my official superiors in pressing the 
point upon him, Mr. Edraonstone having commenced at- 
tacking him in my favor before I had been under him 
four months. I am not in love with the kind of employ- 
ment, — I long with no common eanaestness for the more 
military duties of my old friends the "Guides;" but I 
am not therefore insensible to the advantages of doing 
well in this line of work. Ambition alone would dictate 
this, for my success in this civil business (which is con- 
sidered the highest and most ai-duous branch of the pub- 
lic service) almost insures my getting on in any other 
hereafter. 



To Rev. E. Harland. 

KussowLEE, June. 11th, 1851. 
I fancy the change is as great in myself as in either. 
The old visions of boyhood have given place to the vehe- 
ment aspirations of a military career and the interests of 
a larger ambition. I thirst now not for the calm pleasures 
of a country life, the charms of society, or a cai'eer of 
ease and comfort, but for the maddening excitement of 
war, the keen contest of wits involved in dealing with 
wilder men, and the exei'cise of power over the many by 
force of the will of the individual. Nor am I, I hope, 
insensible to the vast field for good and for usefulness 
which these vast provinces offer to our energies, and to 
the high importance of the trust committed to our charge. 



COLONEL BRADSHAW. 177 

To Ms Father. 

KussowLEE, Oct. 20th, 1851. 

I am mucli stronger bow, and improving rapidly. By 
the end of next summer I hope to be as strong as I ever 
hope to be again. That I shall ever again be able to 
row from Cambridge to Ely in two hours and ten min- 
utes, to run a mile in five minutes, or to walk from Skye 
(or Kyle Hatren Ferry) to Inverness in thirty hours, is 
not to be expected, or perhaps desired. But I have 
every hope that in the event of another war I may be 
able to endure fatigue and exposure as freely as in 1848. 
One is oftener called upon to ride than to walk long dis- 
tances in India. In 184B, I could ride one hundred 
miles in ten hours, fully accoutred, and I don't care how 
soon (saving your presence !) the necessity arises again ! 
I have no doubt that matrimony will do me a power of 
good, and that I shall be not only better, but happier and 
more care-less than hitherto. 

I have been deeply grieved and affected by the death, 
two days ago, of Colonel Bradshaw, of the 60th Rifles. 
He will be a sad loss, not only to his regiment, but to the 
army and the country. He was the beau ideal of an 
English soldier and gentleman, and would have earned 
himself a name as a General had he been spared. A 
finer and nobler spirit there was not in the army. I feel 
it as a deep personal loss, for he won my esteem and re- 
gard in no common degree. 



8* 



CHAPTER VII. 

MAKEIAGE. COMMAND OF THE GUIDES. FRONTIER 

WARFARE. MURDAN. 

On the 5th of January, 1852, Lieut. Hodson 
was married, at the Cathedral, Calcutta, to Su- 
san, daughter of Capt. C. Henry, R. N., and 
widow of John Mitford, Esq., of Exbury, Hants. 
By the first week in March he had resumed his 
duties at Kussowlee as Assistant Commissioner. 
On the breaking out of the war with Burmah he 
expected to rejoin his regiment, (the First Bengal 
European Fusileers,) which had been ordered for 
service there, but in August he writes from Kus- 
sowlee : — 

My regiment is on its way down the Ganges to Cal- 
cutta, to take part in the war, but the Burmese have 
proved so very unformidable an enemy this time, that 
only half the intended force is to be sent on from Cal- 
cutta ; the rest being held in reserve. Under these 
circumstances, and in the expectation that the war will 
very speedily be brought to a close, the Governor- Gen- 
eral has determined not to allow ofScei-s on civil employ- 
ment to join their regiments in the usual manner. I 
am thus spared what would have been a very fatiguing 



COMMAND OF GUIDE CORPS. 179 

and expensive trip, with very little hope of seeing any 
fio^htino;. 

It was not long, however, before an opportu- 
nity of seeing active service presented itself, and 
in a way, of all others, most to his taste. His 
heart had all along been with his old corps, " the 
Guides," as his letters show. He had taken an 
active share in raising and training them origi- 
nally, and, as second in command during the 
Punjaub campaign of 1848-9, had contributed in 
no small degree to gain for the Corps that repu- 
tation which it has recently so nobly sustained 
before Delhi. 

The command was now vacant, and was of- 
fered to him ; but I must let him speak for him- 
self:— 

KussowL-EE, Se]it. 23c?, 1852. 

Lumsden, my old Commandant in the Guides, goes 
to England next month, and the Governor- General has 
given me the command which I have coveted so long. 
It is immense good fortune in every way, both as regards 
income and distinction. It is accounted the most honor- 
able and arduous command on the frontier, and fills the 
public eye, as the papers say, more than any other. 

This at the end of seven years' service is a great 
thing, especially on such a frontier as Peshawur, at the 
mouth of the Kyber Pass. You Avill agree with me in 
rejoicing at the opportunities for distinction thus offered 
to me. 

Mr. Thomason writes thus: " I congratulate you- very 
sincerely on the fine prospect that is open to you, and 



180 KUSSOWLEE. 

trust that you will have many opportunities of showing 
what the Guides can do under your leadership. I have 
never ceased to reproach myself for advising you to leave 
the Corps, but now that you have the command, you will 
be all the better for the dose of civilianism that has been 
intermediately administered to you." 



KussowLEE, Oct. 7t]i, 1852. 

Here I am, still, but hoping to take wing for Peshawur 
in a few days. It is only 500 miles ; and, as there are 
no railways, and only nominal I'oads, and five vast rivers 
to cross, you may suppose that the journey is not one of 
a few hours' lounge. 

I am most gratified by the appointment to the command 
of the Guides, and more so by the way in which it was 
given me, and the manner of my selection from amidst a 
crowd of aspirants. It is no small thing for a subaltern 
to be raised to the command of a battalion of infantry 
and a squadron and a half of cavalry, with four English 
ofiicei's under him ! I am supposed to be the luckiest 
man of my time. I have already had an offer from the 
Military Secretary to the Board of Administration to 
exchange appointments with him, although I should gain, 
and he would lose 2001. a year by the " swop ; " but 
I would not listen to him ; I prefer the saddle to the 
desk, the frontier to a respectable, wheel-going, dinner- 
giving, dressy life at the capital ; and ambition to 

money ! 

But though his " instincts were so entirely mil- 
itary," (to use his own words,) this did not pre- 



LETTER FROM MR. EDMONSTONE. 181 

vent his discharging his civil duties in a manner 
that called forth the highest eulogium from his 
superiors, as the subjoined letter from Mr. Ed- 
monstone, now Secretary to Government at Cal- 
cutta, will testify : — 

" KussowLEE, Oct. nth, 1852. 
" Mt deak Hod son, — I am a bad hand at talking, 
and could not say what I wished, but I would not have 
you go away without thanking you heartily for the sup- 
port and assistance which you have always given me in 
all matters, whether big or little, since you joined me, 
now twenty months and more ago. I have in my civil 
and criminal reports for the past year i-ecorded my sense 
of your services, and your official merits, but our con- 
nection has been peculiar, and your position has been one 
which few would have filled either so efficiently or so 
agreeably to all parties. You have affiarded me the 
greatest aid in the most irksome part of my duty, and 
have always with the utmost readiness undertaken any- 
thing, no matter what, that I asked you to dispose of, and 
I owe you more on this account than a mere official ac- 
knowledgment can repay adequately. I hope that though 
your present appointment will give you more congenial 
duties and better pay, you will never have occasion to 
look back to the time you have passed here with regret ; 
and I hope too that all your anticipations of pleasure and 
pride, in commanding the Corps which you had a chief 
hand in forming, may be realized. 

" Believe me to be, with much regard, 

" Yours very sincerely, 

" G. F. Edmonstone." 



182 HUZARA. 

Camp in Huzara, Bee. IQtJi, 1852. 

I took command of the Guides on the 1st NoYember, 
and twenty-four hours afterwards marched " on service " 
to this country, which is on the eastern or left bank of 
the Indus, above the parallel of Attok. We are now in 
an elevated valley, surrounded by snowy mountains, and 
mighty cold it is, too, at night. We have come about 125 
miles from Peshawur, and having marched up the hill, 
are patiently expecting the order to march down again. 
We have everything necessary for a pretty little moun- 
tain campaign but an enemy. This is usually a sine qua 
non in warfai-e, but not so now. Then we have to take 
a fort, only it has ceased to exist months ago ; and to 
reinstate an Indian ally in territories from which he was 
expelled by some neighbors, only he wont be reinstated 
at any price. 

My regiment consists of five English officers, including 
a surgeon, Dr. Lyell, a very clever man. Then I have 
300 horse, including native officers, and 550 foot, or 850 
men in all, divided into three troops and six companies, * 
the latter armed as riflemen. My power is somewhat 
despotic, as I have authority to enlist or dismiss from the 
service, flog or imprison, degrade or promote any one, 
from the native officers downwards, always remembering 
that an abuse of power might lose me the whole. This 
sort of chiefdom is necessary with a wild sort of gentry 
of various races and speeches, gathered from the snows 
of the Hindoo Koosh and the Himalaya, to the plains of 

* No two troops or companies were of the same race, in order to 
prevent the possibility of combination. One company was composed 
of Sikhs, another of Afifreedees, others of Patlians, Goorlchas, Punjau- 
bee Mahomedans, &c., with native officers, in each case, of a different 
race from the men. 



HUZARA. 183 

Scinde and Hindostan, all of whom are more quick at 
blows than at words, and more careless of human life 
than you could possibly understand in England by any 
description. I am likely to have civil charge as well as 
military command of the Euzofzai district, comprising 
that portion of the great Peshawur valley which lies be- 
tween the Cabul River and the Indus. So you see I am 
not likely to eat the bread of idleness at least. I will 
tell you more of my peculiar duties when I have more 
experience of their scope and bent. ... I am, I should 
say, the most fortunate man in the service, considering 
my standing. The other candidates were all field-officers 
of some standing. 

Our good friend and guest. Captain Powys, of the 
60th, who has spent the first six months of our married 
life under our roof, is on the way to England. He will 
see you very soon, and give you a better account of us 
than you could hope for from any one else. 

Notwithstanding all appearance to the contrary 
at its opening, the campaign lasted seven weeks, 
and supplied plenty of fighting. It was after- 
wards characterized by my brother as the hardest 
piece of service he had yet seen. One engage- 
ment lasted from sunrise to sunset. He had thus 
an opportunity of displaying his usual gallantry 
and coolness, and showing how well he could 
handle his " Guides " in mountain warfare. They 
suffered much from cold, as the ground was cov- 
ered with snow for a part of the time, and from 
want of supplies. 

Colonel (now Sir R.) Napier, speaking after- 
w^ards of this expedition, said : — 



184 HUZARA. 

" Your brother's unfaiKng fun and spirits, which 
seemed only raised by what we had to go through, 
kept us all alive and merry, so that we looked 
back upon it afterwards as a party of pleasure, 
and thought we had never enjoyed anything 
more." 

In reply to congratulations on his appointment, 
m.y brother wrote from — 

Peshawue, March IBth, 1853. 
I have certainly been very fortunate indeed, and only 
hope that I may be enabled to acquit myself of the trust 
well and honoi'ably, both in the field and in the more 
political portion of my duties. It was a good thing that 
I had the opportunity of leading the regiment into action 
so soon after getting the command, and that the brunt of 
the whole should have fallen upon us, as it placed the 
older men and myself once more on our old footing of 
confidence in one another, and introduced me to the 
younger hands as their leader when they needed one. 
Susie says she told you all about it ; I need therefore 
only add that it was the hardest piece of service, while it 
lasted, I have yet seen with the Guides, both as regards 
the actual fighting, the difficulties of the ground, (a rugged 
mountain, 7,000 feet high, and densely wooded,) and the 
exposure. You will see little or no mention of it pub- 
licly, it being the policy of Government to make every- 
thing appear as quiet as possible on this frontier, and to 
blazon the war on the eastern side of the empire (some 
2,000 miles away) as much as they can. I am, as you 
justly imagined, to be employed both civilly and in a 
military capacity, — at least, it is under discussion. I 



PESHAWUR. 185 

was asked to take charge of the wild district of " Enzof- 
zai," (forming a hirge portion of the Peshawur province,) 
where the Guides will ordinarily be stationed. I refused 
to do so unless I had the exclusive civil charge in all 
departments, magisterial, financial, and judicial, instead 
of in the former only, as proposed, and I fancy they will 
give in to my reasons. I shall then be military chief, 
and civil governor, too, as far as that part of the valley 
is concerned, and shall have enough on my hands, as you 
may suppose. In the mean time, T shall have the super- 
intendence of the building of a fort to contain us all, — 
not such a fortress as Coblentz, or those on the Belgian 
frontier, but a mud structure, which answers all the pur- 
poses we require at a very, very small cost. 



Peshawue, Api-il SOth, 1853. 

I am sorry to say my wife is ordered to the hills, and 

we shall again be separated for five or six months. My 

own destination for the hot season is uncertain, but I 

expect to be either here, or on the banks of the Indus. 



Camp, near Peshawue, June 4(h, 1853. 
.... I hope to get away from work and heat in 
August or September for a month, if all things remain 
quiet. But for this sad separation, there would be much 
charm for me in this gypsy life. To avoid the great heats 
of the next three months in tents, we are building huts 
for ourselves of thatch, and mine is assuming the dignity 
of mud walls. We are encamped on a lovely spot, on 



186 LIFE IN CAMP. 

the banks of the swift and bright river, at the foot of the 
hills, on the watch for incursions or forays, and to guard 
the richly cultivated plain of the Peshawur valley from 
depredations from the hills. We are ready, of course, to 
boot and saddle at all hours ; our rifles and carabines are 
loaded, and our swords keen and bright ; and woe to the 
luckless chief who, trusting to his horses, descends upon 
the plain too near our pickets ! Meanwhile, I am civil 
as well as military chief, and the natural taste of the 
Euzofzai Pathans for broken heads, murder, and violence, 
as well as their litigiousness about their lands, keeps me 
very hard at work from day to day. Perhaps the life 
may be more suited to a careless bachelor, than to a 
husband with such a wife as mine ; but even still it has 
its charms for an active mind and body. A daybreak 
parade or inspection, a gallop across the plain to some 
outpost, a plunge in the river, and then an early break- 
fast, occupy your time until 9 A. m. Then come a couple 
of corpses whose owners (late) had their heads broken 
overnight, and consequent investigations and examina- 
tions ; next a batch of villagers to say their crops are 
destroyed by a storm, and no rents forthcoming. Then 
a scream of woe from a plundered farm on the frontier, 
and next a grain-dealer, to say his camels have been car- 
ried oflf to the hills. " Is not this a dainty dish to set 
before — your brother." Then each of my nine hundred 
men considers me bound to listen to any amount of sto- 
ries he may please to invent or remember of his own 
private griefs and troubles ; and last, not least, there are 
four young gentlemen who have each his fancy, and who 
often give more trouble in transacting business than 
assistance in doing it. However, I have no right to 
complain, for I am about, yes, quite, the most fortunate 



COMPETITIVE SYSTEM. 187 

man in the service ; and have I not the right to call 
myself the happiest also, with such a wife and such a 
home ? 



Camp, near Peshawuk, August 6lh, 1853. 
I hear that the new system for India is to throw open 
Addiscombe and Haileybury to public competition ; that 
this public competition will be fair and open, and free 
from jobbery and patronage, I suppose no sane person 
in the 19th century, acquainted with public morals and 
public bodies, would believe for an instant. The change 
may, however,, facilitate admission into the service to 
well-crammed boys. Thei'e are, I doubt not, many 
clever and able men who would in a year put any boy 
with tolerable abilities into a state of intellectual coma, 
which would enable him to write out examination papers 
by the dozen, and pass a triumphant examination in 
paper-military affairs. I am not called upon to state how 
much of it would avail in the hour of strife and danger. 
India is, par excellence, the country for poor men who 
have hard constitutions and strong stomachs. I fear you 
will add, when you have read thus far, that it is not 
favorable to charity, or to the goodness which, under the 
pious wish to think no evil, gives every one credit for 
everything, and believes that words mean what they 
appear to express, and that language conveys some idea 
of the thoughts of the speaker ! ... It is very trying 
that I cannot be with Susie at Murree ; but with a people 
such as these it is not safe to be absent, lest the volcano 
should break out afresh. Since I began this sheet a dust- 
storm has covered everything on my table completely 
with sand. My pen is clogged, and my inkstand choked, 



188 GEOGRAPHY OF PUNJAUB. 

and my eyes full of dust ! What am I to do ? Oh, the 
pleasures of the tented field in August in the valley of 
Peshawur! It has been very hot indeed, lately. We 
have barely in our huts had the thermometer under 100°, 
and a very steamy, stewy heat it is, into the bargain. 



MuEKEE, Sept. Uth, 1853. 

I am enjoying a little holiday from arms and cutchery 
up in the cool here with Susie. Muri-ee is not more than 
140 miles from Peshawur. You say that you do not 
know " what I mean by hills in my part of India." This 
is owing to the badness of the maps. The fact is, that 
the whole of the upper part of the country watered by 
the five rivers is mountainous. The Himalaya extends 
from the eastern frontiers of India to Aifghanistan, where 
it joins the " Hindoo Koosh," or Caucasus. If you draw 
a line from Peshawur, through Rawul Pindee, to Simla 
or Subathoo, or any place marked on the maps there- 
abouts, you may assume that all to the north of that line 
is mountain country. Another chain runs from Peshawur, 
down the right bank of the Indus to the sea. At Attok 
the mountains close in upon the river, or more correctly 
speaking, the river emerges from the mountains, and the 
higher ranges end there. The Peshawur valley is a wide 
open plain, lying on the banks of the Cabul River, about 
sixty miles long by forty broad, encircled by mountains, 
some of them covered with snow for eight or nine months 
of the year. Euzofzai is the northeastern portion of this 
valley, embraced between the Cabul River and the Indus. 
Half of Euzofzai (the " abode of the children of Joseph ") 
is mountain, but we only hold the level or plain part of it. 



EUZOFZAI. 189 

Nevertheless, a large part of my little province is very 
hilly. In the northeast corner of Euzofzai, hanging 
over the Indus, is a vast lump of a hill, called " Maha- 
bun " (or the " great forest "), thickly peopled on its slopes, 
and giving shelter to some 12,000 armed men, the bittei'- 
est bigots which even Islam can produce. The hill is 
about 7,800 feet above the level of the sea. This has 
been identified by the wise men with the Aornos of Ar- 
rian, and Alexander is supposed to have crossed the Indus 
at its foot. Whether he did so or not I am not " at lib- 
erty to mention," but it is certain that Nadir Shah, in one 
of his incursions into India, marched his host to the top 
of it, and encamped there. This gives color to the story 
that the Macedonian did the same. As in all ages, there 
are dominating points which are seized on by men of 
genius when engaged in the great game of war. The 
great principles of war seem to change as little as the 
natural features of the country. Well, you will see how 
a mountain range running " slantingdicularly " across the 
Upper Punjaub contains many nice mountain tops suited 
to Anglo-Saxon adventurers. If you can find Rawul 
Pindee on the maps, you may put your finger on Murree, 
about twenty-five miles, as the crow flies, to the north- 
east. You should get a map of the Punjaub, Cashmere, 
and Iskardo, published by Arrowsmith in 1847. George 
sent me two of them. They are the best published maps 
I have seen. As to the Euzofzai fever, that is, I am 
happy to say, now over. It was terrible while it lasted. 
Between the 1st March and the loth June, 1853, 8,352 
persons died out of a population of 53,500. It was very 
similar to typhus, but had some symptoms of yellow fever. 
It was confined to natives. It appeared to be contagious 
or infectious, but I am so entirely skeptical as to the ex- 



190 DEATH OF MR. THOMASON. 

istence of either contagion or infection in these Indian 
complaints, that I cannot bring myself to believe that the 
appearances were real. 

Poor Colonel Mackison, the Commissioner at Peshawur, 
(the chief civil and political officer for the frontier), was 
stabbed, a few days ago, by a fanatic, while sitting in his 
veranda reading. The fellow was from Swat, and said 
he had heard that we were going to invade his country, 
and that he would try to stop it, and go to heaven as a 
martyr for the faith. Poor Mackison is still alive, but in 
a very precarious state, I fear. I hope this may induce 
Government to take strong measures with the hill-tribes. 

He had soon to mourn the loss of a still more 
valued friend : — 

Oct. lUh, 1853. 

You will have been much shocked at hearing of poor 
dear Mr. Thomason's death. 

It is an irreparable loss to his family and friends, but 
it will be even more felt in his public capacity. He had 
not been ill, but died from sheer debility and exhaustion, 
produced by overwork and application in the trying sea- 
son just over. Had he gone to the hills, all would have 
been right. I cannot but think that he sacrificed himself 
as an example to others. You may imagine how much I 
have felt the loss of my earliest and best friend in India, 
to whom I was accustomed to detail all my proceedings, 
and whom I was wont to consult in every difficulty and 
doubt. 

On the 2d November he wrote from Rawul Pin- 
dee to announce the birth of a daughter. He had 
been obliged previously to return to his duties ; 



BOREE CAMPAIGN. 191 

but, by riding hard all night, had been able to be 
with his wife at the time, and, after greeting the 
little stranger, had immediately to hasten back to 
his Guides on the frontier. 

The Government, with a view to secure the 
Kohat Pass, were now preparing an expedition 
against the refractory tribe of the Borees, one of 
the bravest and wildest of the AfFghan race, in 
order to prove that their hills and valleys were 
accessible to our troops. 

Accordingly, a force consisting of 400 men of 
her Majesty's 22d, 450 Goorkhas, 450 Guides, 
and the mountain train, marched at 4 a. m. on the 
morning of the 29th November, under the com- 
mand of Brigadier Boileau, to attack the villages 
in the Boree valley. 

I must supply the loss of my brother's own 
account by a letter from an officer with the ex- 
pedition : — 

" Our party, after crossing the hills between 
Kundao and the main AfFreedee range at two 
points, reunited in the valley at 10.30 a. m., and 
with the villages of the Borees before us at the 
foot of some precipitous crags. These it at once 
became apparent must be carried before the vil- 
lages could be attacked and destroyed. The ser- 
vice devolved on two detachments of the Goorkhas 
and Guides, commanded by Lieutenants Hodson 
and Turner, and the style in which these gallant 
fellows did their work, and drove the enemy from 
crag to rock and rock to crag, and finally kept 



192 BOEEE CAMPAIGN. 

them at bay from 11 a. m. to 3 p. m., was the 
admiration of the whole force. We could plainly 
see the onslaught, especially a fierce struggle that 
lasted a whole hour, for the possession of a breast- 
work, which appeared inaccessible from below, 
but was ultimately carried by the Guides, in the 
face of the determined opposition of- the Affree- 
dees, who fought for every inch of ground. 

" Depend upon it, this crowning of the Boree 
heights was one of the finest pieces of light in- 
fantry performance on record. It was, moreover, 
one which Avitabile, with 10,000 Sikhs, was una- 
ble to accomplish. During these operations on 
the hill, the villages were burnt, and it was only 
the want of pov\rder which prevented the succes- 
sion of towers which flanked them being blown 
into the air. The object of the expedition having 
been thus fully achieved, the skirmishers were 
recalled at about three, and then the difficulties 
of the detachment commenced ; for, as is weK 
known, the Affghans are familiar with the art of 
following, though they will rarely meet an enemy. 
The withdrawal of the Guides and Goorkhas 
from the heights was most exciting, and none but 
the best officers and the best men could have 
achieved this duty with such complete success. 
Lieutenant Hodson's tactics were of the most 
brilliant description, and the whole force having 
been once more reunited in the plain, they marched 
out of the valley by the Turoonee Pass, which, 
though farthest from the British camp, was the 



BOEEE CAMPAIGN. 193 

shortest to the outer plains. The force did not 
return to camp till between ten and eleven at 
night, having been out nearly eighteen hours, 
many of the men without food, and almost all 
without water, the small supply which had been 
carried out having soon been exhausted, and none 
being procurable at Boree. 

" Not an officer of the detachment was touched, 
and only eight men killed and twenty-four wound- 
ed. When the force first entered the valley, there 
were not more than 200 Borees in arms to resist ; 
but before they returned, the number had increased 
to some 3,000, — tens and twenties pouring in all 
the morning from all the villages and hamlets 
within many miles, intelligence of the attack 
being conveyed to them by the firing." 

My brother's services on this occasion were thus 
acknowledged by the Brigadier commanding, Col- 
onel Boileau, her Majesty's 22d Regiment, in a 
despatch dated Nov. 29th, 1853 : — 

" To the admirable conduct of Lieutenant Hodson in 
reconnoitring, in the skilful disposition of his men, and 
the daring gallantry with which he led his fine Corps in 
every advance, most of our success is due ; for the safety 
of the whole force while in the valley of the Tillah de- 
pended on his holding his position, and I had justly every 
confidence in his vigilance and valor. 

(Signed) " J. B. Boileau, 

" Brigadier Commanding the Force 
at Boree." 



194 CAMP, MUEDAN. 

" To Lieutenant W. S. R. Hodson, I beg you will ex- 
press my particular thanks for the great service he ren- 
dered the force under your command, by his ever gallant 
conduct, which has fully sustained the reputation he has 
so justly acquired for courage, coolness, and determina- 
tion, 

(Signed) " W. M. Gomm, 

" Gommander-in- Chief" 

Before Christmas, to his great delight, he was 
joined in camp by his wife and child. The fol- 
lowing letters bring out still more prominently 
the tender loving side of his character, both as a 
father and a son : — 

To his Father. 

Camp, Murdan, Euzofzai, Jan. 2d, 1854. 

I have been sadly long in answering your last most 
welcome letter, but I have been so terribly driven from 
pillar to post, that I have always been unable to sit down 
at the proper time. My long holiday with dear Susie, 
and journeyings to and fro to see her at Murree, and 
our short campaign against the Affreedees in November, 
threw me into a sea of arreai's which was terrible to con- 
template, and still worse to escape from. I am now 
working all day and half the night, and cannot as yet 
make much impression on them. 

I wish you could see your little grand-daughter being 
nursed by a rough-looking Affghan soldier or bearded 
Sikli, and beginning life so early as a dweller in tents. 
She was christened by Mr. Clarke, one of the Church 
Missionaries who happened to be in Peshawur. The 



ATTEMPTED ASSASSINATION. 195 

chaplain, who ought to have been there, was amusing 
himself somewhere, and we could not catch a spare par- 
son for a fortnight. 

You evidently do not appreciate the state of things in 
these provinces. There are but two churches in the 
Punjaub ; and there will be an electric telegraph to Pe- 
shawur before a church is commenced there, though the 
station has been one for four years. In the first season, 
a large Roman Catholic Chapel was built there, and an 
Italian priest from the Propaganda busy in his vocation. 
I offered Mr. C. all the aid in my power, though I told 
him candidly that I thought he had not much chance of 
success here. A large sum has been raised at Peshawur 
for the Mission, but unfortunately they have gone wild 
with theories about the lost tribes and fulfilment of proph- 
ecies respecting the Jews, which has given a somewhat 
visionary character to their plans. Mr. C. wanted me to 
think that these Euzofzai Pathans were Ben-i-Israel, and 
asked me whether I had heard them call themselves so ; 
and he was aghast vvhen I said they were as likely to 
talk of Ben d'lsraeli. All I can say is, that if they be 
" lost tribes," I only wish they would find out a home 
somewhere else among their cousins, and give me less 
trouble. . . . My second in command was stabbed in the 
back by a fanatic the other day while on parade, and has 
had a wonderful escape for his hfe. 

You would so delight in your little grand-daughter. 
She is a lovely good little darling ; as happy as possible, 
and wonderfully quick and intelligent for her months. I 
would give worlds to be able to run. home and see you, 
and show you my child, but I fear much that, unless I 
find a " nugget," it is vain to hope for so much pleasure 
just now. Meantime, I have every blessing a man can 



196 BUILDING FORT. 

hope for, and not the least is that of your fond and much 
prized affection. 

A few months later, again apologizing for long 
silence, he says : — 

May \st. 

In addition to the very onerous command of 876 wild 
men and 300 wild horses, and the charge of the civil ad- 
ministration of a district almost as lawless as Tipperary, 
I have had to build, and superintend the building of, a 
fort to give cover to the said men and horses, including 
also within its walls three houses for English officers, a 
police station, and a native collector's office. He who 
builds in India builds not in the comfortable acceptation 
of the term which obtains at home. He sends not for his 
Barry or his Basevi ; calls not for a design and specifica- 
tions, and then beholds his house, and pays his bill ; but 
he builds as Noah may have built the Ark. 

Down to the minutest detail of carpentry, smithery, 
and masonry, and of " muddery," too, for that matter, he 
must know what he is about, and show others what to do, 
or good-bye to his hopes for a house. 

Altogether, I am often fourteen hours a day at hax'd 
work, and obliged to listen for a still longer period. 

Our poor little darling had a very severe attack of 
fever the other day, but is now well again, and getting 
strong. I never see her without wishing that she was in 
her grandfather's arms. You would so delight in her 
little baby tricks and ways. She is the very delight 
of our lives, and we look forward with intense interest 
to her beginning to talk and crawl about. Both she 
and her dear mother will have to leave for the hills very 
soon, I am sorry to say. We try to put off the evil day, 



LIFE IN WILDERNESS. 197 

but I dare not expose either of my treasures to the heat 
of Euzofzai or Peshawur for the next three months. . . . 
The young lady ah-eady begins to show a singularity of 
taste, — refusing to go to the arms of any native women, 
and decidedly preferring the male population, some of 
whom are distinguished by her special favor. Her own 
orderly, save the mark, never tires of looking at her 
" beautiful white fingers," nor she of twisting them into 
his black beard, — an insult to an Oriental, which he 
bears with an equanimity equal to his fondness for her. 
The cunning fellows have begun to make use of her too, 
and when they want anything, ask the favor in the name 
of Lilli Baba (they cannot manage "Olivia" at all). 
They know the spell is potent. 

The following letters from his wife's pen give a 
lively picture of " domestic " life in the wilder- 
ness, and of the wilderness itself : — 

'■'■January^ 1854. 
" Picture to yourself an immense plain, flat as a bill- 
iard table, but not as green, with here and there a dotting 
of camel thorn about eighteen inches high, by way of 
vegetation. This far as the eye can reach on the east, 
west, and south of us, but on the north the lasting snows 
of the mighty Himalaya glitter and sparkle like a rosy 
diadem above the lower range, which is close to our 
camp. What would you say to life in such a wilderness? 
or how would you stare to see the officers sit down to 
table with sword and pistol ? The baby never goes for 
an airing without a guard of armed horsemen ; what a 
sensation such a cortege would create in Hyde Park ! " 



198 EUZOFZAI. 



" April 15ili. 

" You ask for some detail of our life out here, and the 
history of one day will be a picture of every one, with 
little variation. 

"At the first bugle, soon after daylight, W. gets up 
and goes to parade, and from thence to superintend the 
proceedings at the fort. 

" By nine o'clock we are both ready for breakfast, 
after which W. disappears into his business tent, where 
he receives regimental reports, examines recruits, whether 
men or horses, superintends stores and equipments, hears 
complaints, and settles disputes, &c. &c. The regimental 
business fii'st dispatched, then comes ' kutcherry,' or civil 
court matters, receiving petitions, adjusting claims, with a 
still longer &c. You may have some small idea of the 
amount of this work, when I tell you that during the 
month of March he disposed of twenty-one serious crim- 
inal cases, such as murder, and ' wounding with intent,' 
and nearly 300 charges of felony, larceny, &c. At two 
o'clock he comes in for a look at his bairn, and a glass of 
wine. Soon after five a cup of tea, and then we order 
the horses, and in the saddle till nearly eight, when I go 
with him again to the fort, the garden, and the roads, 
diverging occasionally to fix the site of a new village, a 
well, or a watercourse. 

" You can understand something of the delight of gal- 
loping over the almost boundless plain in the cool, fresh 
air, (for the mornings and evenings are still lovely,) with 
the ground now enamelled with sweet-scented flowers, 
and the magnificent mountains nearest us assuming every 
possible hue which light and shadow can bestow. On 
our return to camp, W. hears more reports till dinner, 



NATIVE SPORTS. 199 

which is sometimes shared by the other officers, or chance 
guests. 

" When we are alone, as soon as dinner is over, the 
letters which have arrived in the evening are examined, 
classified, and descanted on, sometimes answered ; and I 
receive my instructions for next day's work in copying 
papers, answering letters, &c. And now do you not 
think that prayers and bed ai-e the fitting and well-earned 
ending to the labors of the day ? 

" When you remember, too, that, in building the fort, 
roads, and bridges, W. has to make his bricks and burn 
them, to search for his timber and fell it, you will not 
deny that his hands are full enough ; but in addition, he 
has to search for workmen, and when brought here, to 
procure them food and means of cooking it. Some are 
Mussulmans and eat meat, which must be killed and 
cooked by their own people. Some are Hindoos, who 
only feed on grain and vegetables, but every single man 
must have his own chula or fireplace, with an inclosure 
for him and his utensils, and if by chance any foot but 
his own overstep his little mud wall, he will neither eat 
nor work till another sun has arisen. Then some smoke, 
while others hold it in abhorrence ; some only drink 
water, others must have spirits ; so that it is no easy mat- 
ter to arrange the conflicting wants of some 1,100 laborers. 
I shall be very thankful when this Murdan Kote is fin- 
ished, for it will relieve my poor husband of half his 
labor and anxiety. 

" By way of variety, we have native sports on great 
holidays, — such as throwing the spear at a mark, or 
' Nazabaze,' which is, fixing a stake of twelve or eighteen 
inches into the ground, which must be taken up on the 
spear's point while passing it at full gallop, or putting an 



200 NATIVE SPORTS. 

orange on the top of a bamboo a yard high, and cutting 
it through with a sword at full speed. W. is very clever 
at this, rarely failing, but the spears are too long for any 
but a lithe native to wield without risking a broken arm. 
The scene is most picturesque; — the flying horsemen in 
their flowing many-colored garments, and the grouping of 
the lookers-on, make me more than ever regret not hav- 
ing a ready pencil-power to put them on paper. 

" The weather has been particularly unfavorable to the 
progress of the fort, so that we are still in our temporary 
hut and tents. Of course we feel the heat much more, so 
domiciled. W. is grievously overworked, still his health 
is wonderfully good, and his spirits as wild as if he were 
a boy again. He is never so well pleased as when he 
has the baby in his arms." 



Attok, June 9th, 1854. 
. . . We are so far on the way to Murree, and here, I 
grieve to say, we part for the next three months. I hope 
to rejoin them for a month in September, and accompany 
them back to our new home, for by that time I trust that 
my fortified cantonment wall be ready, and our house too. 
This said fort has been a burden and a stumbling-block to 
me for months, and added grievously to my work, as I am 
sole architect. It is built regularly, but of earthworks 
and mud, and as it covers an area of twelve acres, you 
may believe that it has been no slight task to superintend 
its construction. It is a sad necessity, and the curse of 
Indian life, this repeatedly recurring separation, but any- 
thing is better than to see the dear ones suffer. I am for- 
tunately very well, and as yet untouched by the unusual 



LOSS OF CHILD. 201 

virulence with which the hot weathei' has commenced 
this year. 



To his Father. 

MuRKEE, July 17th, 1854. 

I was summoned from Euzofzai to these hills, on the 
26th June, by the tidings of the dangerous illness of our 
sweet baby. I found her in a sinking state, and though 
she was spared to us for another fortnight of deep anxi- 
ety and great wretchedness, there was, from the time I 
arrived, scarcely a hope of her recovery. Slowly and 
by imperceptible degrees her little life wasted away until, 
early on the morning of the 10th, she breathed her soul 
away, so gently that those watching her intently were 
conscious of no change. The deep agony of this be- 
reavement I have no words to describe. We had watched 
her growth, and prided ourselves on her development 
with such absorbing interest and joy ; and she had so won 
our hearts by her extreme sweetness and most unusual 
intelligence, that she had become the very centre and 
light of our home life, and in losing her we seem to have 
lost everything. Her poor mother is sadly bowed down 
by this great grief, and has suffered terribly both in health 
and spirits. 

I have got permission to remain with her a few days, 
but I must return to my duty before the end of the 
month. 

We had the best and kindest of medical advice, and 
everything, I believe, which skill could do was tried, but 
in vain. She was lent to us to be our joy and comfort 
for a time, and was taken from us again, and the blank 
she has left behind is great indeed. 

9* 



202 LOSS OF CHILD. 

I dare not take Susie down with me, much as she 
wishes it, at this season, and in her state of health. I 
must therefore leave her here till October. It is very- 
sad work to part again under these circumstances, but in 
this wretched country there is no help for us. Your 
kind and affectionate expressions about our little darling, 
and your keen appreciation of the " unfailing source of 
comfort and refreshment she was to my wearied spirit," 
came to me just as I had ceased to hope for the precious 
babe's life. 

... It has been a very, very bitter blow to us. She 
had wound her little being round our hearts to an extent 
which we neither of us knew until we woke from the 
brief dream of beauty, and found ourselves childless. 



Camp, Muhdan, Sept. I7th, 1854. 
I am alone now, having none of my officers here save 
the doctor. But the border is quiet, and except a great 
deal of crime and villany, I have not any great difficul- 
ties to contend with. My new fort to hold the regiment 
and protect the frontier is nearly finished, and my new 
house therein will be habitable before my wife comes 
down from Murree. So after two years and a quarter 
of camp and hutting, I shall enjoy the luxury of a room 
and the dignity of a house. 



Fort, Muedan, Oct. 31st, 1854. 
I can give better accounts of our own state than for 
many a long day. Dear Susie is much better than for a 



COMPLETION OF FORT. 203 

year past, and gaining strength daily, and I am as well as 
possible. We are now in our new house in this fort, which 
has caused me so much labor and anxiety ; and I assure 
you, a most comfortable dwelling we find it. Our houses 
(I mean the European officers') project from the general 
front of the works at the angles of the bastions, and are 
quite private, and away from the noisy soldiers ; and we 
have, for India, a very pretty view of the hills and plains 
around us. Above all, the place seems a very healthy 
one. To your eye, fresh from England, it would appear 
desolate from its solitude and oppressive from the vastness 
of the scale of scene. A wide plain, without a break or 
a tree, thirty miles long, by fifteen to twenty miles wide, 
forms our immediate foreground on one side, and an end- 
less mass of mountains on the other. 

We have just heard by telegraph of the engagement at 
Alma, but only a brief electric shock of a message, with- 
out details. We are in an age of wonders. Ten months 
ago, there was not a telegraph in Hindostan, yet the 
news which reached Bombay on the 27th of this month, 
was printed at Lahore, 1,200 miles from the coast, that 
same afternoon. 



MuKDAN, Nov. leth, 1854. 

As yet, we have only felt the surging of the storm 
which convulses Eastern Europe. The only palpable 
sign of the effects of Russian intrigue which we have 
had, has been the commencement of negotiation with the 
Dost Mahomed Khan, of Cabul, who, under the pressure 
from without, has been fain to seek for alliance and aid 
from us. Nothing is yet known of his demands, or the 
intentions of Government, but one thing is certain, that 



204 NATIVE ALLIANCES. 

the commencement of negotiations with us, is the begin- 
ning of evil days for Affghanistan. 

In India, we must either keep altogether aloof or ab- 
sorb. All our history shows that sooner or later con- 
nection with us is political death. The sunshine is not 
more fatal to a dew-drop than our friendship or alliance 
to an Asiatic Kingdom. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

REVERSES. UNJUST TREATMENT. LOSS OF COM- 
MAND. RETURN TO REGIMENTAL DUTIES. 

Up to this time my brother's career in India 
had been one of almost uninterrupted prosperity. 
He had attained a position unprecedented for a 
man of his standing in the service, and enjoyed 
a reputation for daring, enterprise, and ability, only 
equalled by the estimation in which he was held 
by all who knew him, for high principle and ster- 
ling worth. He was, as he described himself, the 
most fortunate and the happiest man in India. 
But now the tide of fortune turned. 

A storm had for some time been gathering, the 
indications of which he had either overlooked or 
despised, till it burst with its full force upon him, 
and seemed for the moment to carry all before it, 
blasting his fair fame and sweeping away his for- 
tunes. Many circumstances had conspired to 
bring about this result, some of which will only 
be fully appreciated by those who are acquainted 
with the internal politics of the Punjaub at that 
period. His appointment to the command of the 
Guides, over the heads of many of his seniors, 
had from the first excited much jealousy and ill- 



206 JEALOUSY. 

will among the numerous aspirants to so distin- 
guished a post. In India, more than in any other 
country, a man cannot be prosperous or fortunate 
without making many enemies ; and every ascent 
above the level of your contemporaries secures so 
many additional " good haters ; " nor is there any 
country where enmity is more unscrupulous in the 
means to which it has recourse. This mattered 
comparatively little to ray brother, so long as Sir 
Henry Lawrence, to whose firm and discriminat- 
ing friendship he owed his appointment, remained 
in power. He, however, had been removed from 
the Administration of the Punjaub, and those 
who had effected his removal, and now reigned 
supreme, were not likely to look with very favor- 
able eyes upon one who, Jike my brother, was 
known as his protege and confidant, and had not 
perhaps been as guarded, as in prudence he ought 
to have been, in the expressions of his opinion on 
various transactions. More recently still. Colonel 
Mackeson, the Resident at Peshawur, his imme- 
diate superior, for whom he entertained the high- 
est regard and affection, which was, I believe, 
reciprocated, had fallen a victim to the dagger of 
the assassin. This had, if possible, a still more 
injurious influence on my brother's position, as 
the new Resident was, both on public and private 
grounds, opposed to him, and made no secret of 
his wish to get rid of him from the charge of the 
frontier. 

With a prospect of such support, my brother's 



CALUMNIES. 207 

enemies were not likely to be idle. He had been 
warned more than once of their undermining op- 
erations ; but strong in conscious integrity, and 
unwilling to suspect others of conduct which he 
would have scorned himself, he " held straight 
on " upon his usual course, till he found himself 
overwhelmed by a mass of charges affecting his 
conduct, both in his military and civil capacity. 

All that malice could invent or ingenuity dis- 
tort, was brought forward to give importance to 
the accusations laid against him. Every trifling 
irregularity or error of judgment was so magni- 
fied, that a mighty fabric was raised on a single 
grain of truth ; and the result was, that towards 
the close of the year he was summoned before a 
court of inquiry at Peshawur. 

That which seemed principally to give color to 
the charges against him was, that there was un- 
deniably confusion and irregularity in the regi- 
mental accounts ; but this confusion, far from 
having originated with him, had been very mate- 
rially rectified. He had succeeded to the com- 
mand in October, 1852, and w^ithin twenty-four 
hours started on a campaign which lasted be- 
tween seven and eight weeks, without any audit 
of accounts between himself and his predecessor, 
who had, immediately on making over the com- 
mand, left for England ; so that he found a mass 
of unexplained confusion, which he had been en- 
deavoring, during his period of command, grad- 
ually to reduce to some order. This he had to a 



208 LETTER FROM SIR R. NAPIER. 

certain extent accomplished when summoned un- 
expectedly to undergo an investigation and meet 
the gravest accusations. 

I will, however, in preference to any statements 
of my own, which might not unnaturally be sus- 
pected of partiality, insert here, though it was 
written at a later period, a letter, giving an ac- 
count of the whole affair, from one whose opinion 
must carry the greatest weight with all who know 
him, either personally or by reputation, Sir B/. 
Napier. It has somewhat of an official charac- 
ter, as it was addressed to the colonel of the 1st 
Bengal European Fusileers, when my brother 
subsequently rejoined that regiment. 

And I may here observe, with regard to any- 
thing which I may now or hereafter say reflecting 
on the conduct and motives of those concerned 
in this attempt to ruin my brother's prospects, 
that I should not have ventured to make these 
remarks simply on his authority, unless I had had 
them confirmed, and more than confirmed, by 
men of the highest character, both civil and mil- 
itary, who were cognizant of all the transactions, 
and did not scruple to express their indignation 
at what they characterized as a most cruel and 
unjust persecution. 

From. Colonel [noio Sir R.) Napier, Chief Engineer, Punjauh, to 
Colonel Welchman, 1st Bengal Fusileers. 

" Umbala, March, 1856. 

" Mt dear Col. Welchman, — I have great pleas- 
ure in meeting your request, to state in writing my 



LETTER FROM SIR K. NAPIER. 209 

opinion regarding my friend Lieutenant Hodson's cAse. 
Having been on intimate terms of friendship with hira 
since 1846, I was quite unprepared for the reports to his 
disadvantage which were circulated, and had no hesita- 
tion in pronouncing my utter disbelief in, and repudiation 
of them, as being at variance with everything I had ever 
known of his character. On arriving at Peshawur in 
March, 1855, I found that Lieutenant Hodson had been 
undergoing a course of inquiry before a Special Military 
Court, and on reading a copy of the proceedings, I per- 
ceived at once that the whole case lay in the correctness 
of his regimental accounts ; that his being summoned 
before a Court, after suspension from civil and military 
duty, and after an open invitation (under regimental 
authority) to all complainants in his regiment, was a 
most unusual ordeal, such as no man could be subjected 
to without the ' greatest disadvantage ; and notwithstand- 
ing this, the proceedings ' did not contain a single sub- 
stantial case against him, provided he could establish the 
validity of his regimental accounts ; and that he could 
do this I felt more than confident. The result of Major 
Taylor's laborious and patient investigation of Lieutenant 
Hodson's regimental accounts has fully justified, but has 
not at all added to, the confidence that I have throughout 
maintained in the honor and uprightness of his conduct. 
It has, however, shown (what I believed, but had not the 
same means of judging of) how much labor Lieutenant 
Hodson bestowed in putting the affairs of his regiment 
in order. Having seen a great deal of the manner in 
which the Guide Corps has been employed, I can well 
understand how difficult it has been to maintain anything 
like regularity of office ; and how impossible it may be 
for those who remain quietly in stations with efficient 



210 - MR. MONTGOMERY. 

establishments, to understand or make allowance for the 
difficulties and irregularities entailed by rapid movements 
on service, and want of proper office means in 'adjusting 
accounts for which no organized system had been estab- 
lished. The manner in which Lieutenant Hodson has 
elucidated his accounts since he had access to the neces- 
sary sources of information, appears to be highly credit- 
able. I have twice had the good fortune to have been 
associated with him on military service, when his high 
qualities commanded admiration. I heartily rejoice, 
therefore, both as a friend and as a member of the ser- 
vice, ' at his vindication from most grievous and unjust 
imputations.' And while I congratulate the regiment on 
his return to it, I regret that one of the best swords 
should be withdrawn from the frontier service. — I re- 
main, yours very sincerely, " R. Napier." 

On the receipt of Major Reynell Taylor's re- 
port, to which reference is here rflade, Mr. Mont- 
gomery, (then one of the Commissioners for the 
-Punjaub, now the Chief Commissioner in Oude,) 
one of the men who, under God, have saved In- 
dia, wrote as follows : — 

" To me the whole report seemed more satis- 
factory than any one I had ever read ; and con- 
sidering Major Taylor's high character, patience, 
and discernment, and the lengthened period he 
took to investigate every detail, most triumphant. 
This I have expressed to all with whom I have 
conversed on the subject." 

All this, however, is an anticipation of the due 



SUPrRESSJON OF REPORT. . 211 

order of events. I must go back again to the 
Court of Inquiry, in order to show more clearly 
the injustice to which Lieutenant Hodson was 
exposed. The proceedings of* the Court termi- 
nated on the 15th January, 1855. Till they were 
submitted to the Governor- General, no decision 
could be given, nor any report published, though 
every publicity had been given to the accusations 
made. Up to the last week in July, the papers 
had not been forwarded from Lahore to be laid 
before him. Mean^vhile, not merely had my 
brotlier been suspended from civil and military 
duty during the inquiry, but without waiting for 
the result, he had been superseded in his com- 
mand, on the ground that his continuing in Eu- 
zofzai, where his corps was stationed, was incon- 
sistent with the public interest. This will appear 
scarcely credible, but worse remains behind. 

Ten months after the conclusion of the inquiry, 
in consequence of repeated applications from my 
brother for a minute investigation of his accounts, 
Major Taylor, as has been mentioned, was ap- 
pointed to examine them, and on the 13th Febru- 
ary, 1856, made his report. The document itself 
is too long and technical for publication, but the 
written opinions I have already quoted, of Sir R. 
Napier and Mr. Montgomery, are sufficient to 
show that it completely established Lieutenant 
Hodson's innocence, and cleared him from the 
grievous and unjust imputations cast upon him. 
Yet in March, 1857, he discovered that this report 



212 OFFICIAL ENMITY. 

had never been communicated to the Commander- 
in-Chief, or Secretary to Government. It had 
been quietly laid aside in some office, and no 
more notice taken. Lord Dalhousie left India, 
having heard all that could be said against him, 
and nothing in his vindication. I might give 
many other details illustrative of the manner in 
which, even in the nineteenth century, official en- 
mity can succeed in crushing one who is so un- 
fortunate as to be its victim, and of the small 
chance which exists of redress, but I will not 
weary my readers with them. 

I give a few extracts from my brother's letters 
at different times in the course of these proceed- 
ings, to show the spirit in which he bore this 
trial, bitter though it was, peculiarly grievous to 
one of his sensitive feelings on all points of 
honor. 

In August, 1855, he wrote to me : — 

They have not been able, with all their efforts, to fix 
anything whatever upon me ; all their allegations (and 
they were wide enough in their range) have fallen to the 
ground ; and the more serious ones have been utterly dis- 
proved by the mere production of documents and books. 
The most vicious assertion was, that I had been so care- 
less of the public money passing through my hands, that 
I had not only kept no proper accounts, but that paper 
had never been inked on the subject, and consequently it 
would be impossible to ascertain whether or not any de- 
ficiency existed in my regimental treasure chest ; and this 
after I had laid my books on the table of the Court, and 



OFFICIAL ENMITY. 213 

begged that they might be examined, and after I had 
subsequently officially applied for their examination by 
proper accountants. Well, after seven months' delay, I 
was offered the opportunity of producing them ; and thus 
I have now at last a chance of bringing out the real state 
of the case. Up to the present time, the most critical and 
hostile examination, lasting a month, has only served to 
prove ray earliest assertion, and my only one. that I could 
give an ample account of every farthing of money in- 
trusted to me, whenever it might please the powers that 
be to inquire into it. The sum total of money repre- 
sented by my account amounts to about 120,000^., pass- 
ing through my hands in small fractional sums of receipt 
and expenditure. 

Not only do they find that I have regular connected 
accounts of everything, but that these are supported by 
vouchers and receipts. It has been a severe trial, and 
the prolonged anxiety and distress of the past nine months 
have been nearly insupportable. 

I almost despair of making you, or any one not on the 
spot, understand the ins and outs of the whole affair ; and 
I can only trust to the result, and to the eventual produc- 
tion of all the papers, to put things in their proper light. 
In the mean time I must endeavor to face the wi-ong, the 
grievous, foul wrong, with a constant and unshaken heart, 
and to endure humihation and disgrace with as much 
equanimity as I may, and with the same soldierlike 
fortitude with which I ought to face danger, suffering, 
and death in the path of duty. 



214 PUBLIC AND PRIVATE TROUBLES. 

Naoshera, Nov. Hh, 1855. 
Your two sad letters came close upon one another, but 
I could not write then. The blow * was overwhelming ; 
coming, too, at a time of unprecedented suffering and 
trial, it was hard to bear up against. What a year this 
has been ! What ages of trial and of sorrow seem to 
have been crowded into a few short months. Our dar- 
ling babe was taken from us on the day my pubHc mis- 
fortunes began, and death has robbed us of our father 
before their end. The brain-pressure was almost too 
much for me, coming as the tidings did at a time of pecu- 
liar distress. ... The whole, indeed, is so peculiarly 
sad that one's heart seems chilled and dulled by the very 
horror of the calamity. ... I look with deep anx- 
iety for your next letters, but the mail seems exclusively 
occupied with Sebastopol, and to have left letters be- 
hind. 

Again, to his sister, some months later : — 

I trust fondly that better days are coming ; but really 
the weary watching and waiting for a gleam of daylight 
through the clouds, and never to see it, is more hai'assing 
and harder to bear up against than I could have supposed 
possible. I have been tried to the utmost, I do think. A 
greater weight of public and private calamity and sorrow 
surely never fell at once on any individual. But it has 
to be borne, and I try to face it manfully and patiently, 
and to believe that it is for some good and wise end. 

By the way, I was much gratified and surprised at see- 
ing, in an article in the Calcutta Review written and 
signed by Sir Henry Lawrence, a most flattering testi- 

* The news of his father's death. 



PKESSUKE OF WORK. 215 

mony * to my military character. Coming at such a time 
it is doubly valuable. 

In another letter, he says : — 

It is pleasant indeed to find that not a man who knows 
me has any belief that there has been anything wrong. 
They think I have been politically wrong in not consult- 
ing my own interests by propitiating the powers that be, 
and they know that I am the victim of official enmity in 
high places ; but I am proud to say, that not one of them 
all (and indeed I believe I might include my worst foes 
and accusers in the category) believes that I have com- 
mitted any more than eri-ors of judgment, and that, owing 
to the pressure of work which came upon me all at once, 
and which was more than one man could manage at once, 
without leaving something to be done at a more conven- 
ient season. 

1 can honestly say, that for months before I was sum- 
moned into Peshawur for the inquiry, I had never known 
what a half hour's i-espite from toil and anxiety was ; in 
fact, ever since I first traced the lines of the fort at Mur- 
dan, in December, 1853, I was literally weighed down 
by incessant calls on my time and attention, and went to 
bed at night thoroughly exhausted and worn out, to rise 
before daylight to a renewed round of toil and worry. 

I remember telling John Lawrence, that, if they got rid 
of me, he would require three men to do the work which 
I had been doing for Government ; and it has already 
proved literally true. They have had to appoint three 

* " Lieutenant Hodson, who has succeeded to the command of the 
Guides, is an accomplished soldier, cool in council, daring in action, 
with great natural ahility improved hy education. There are few 
abler men in any service." 



216 REJOINING REGIMENT. 

different officers to the work I had done single-handed, 
and that, too, after the worst was over ! 



Umbala, March 25th, 1856. 

Of myself I have little to tell you ; things have been 
much in statu quo. Major Taylor's report, of which I 
am going to send you a copy, is most satisfactory. There 
is much which you will probably not understand in the 
way of technicalities, but the general purport will be clear 
to you. 

I expect to join my regiment in about three weeks. 
They are marching up from Bengal to Dugshai, a hill 
station sixty miles from hence, and ten from Kussowlee 
and Subathoo respectively, so I shall be close to old 
haunts. I am very glad we shall be in a good climate, 
for though I have not given in or failed, I am thankful 
to say, still the last eighteen months have told a good 
deal upon me, and I am not up to heat or work. If the 
colonel (Welchman) can, he is going to give me the ad- 
jutancy of the regiment, which will be a gain in every 
way, not only as showing to the world that, in spite of all 
which has happened, there is nothing against my charac- 
ter, but as increasing my income, and giving me the op- 
portunity of learning a good deal of work which will be 
useful to me, and of doing, I hope, a good deal of good 
amongst the men. It will be the first step up the ladder 
again, after tumbling to the bottom. 

Soon afterwards, Lieutenant Hodson rejoined 
the 1st Fusileers at Dugshai. It may be neces- 
sary for the sake of unprofessional readers, to ex- 



MR. C. RAIKES. 217 

plain that during the whole time that he had been 
Assistant Commissioner in the Punjaub, or in 
command of the Guides, he had continued to be- 
long to this regiment, as political or staff appoint- 
ments in India do not dissolve an officer's con- 
nection with his own regiment. 

On April 8th he writes from Dugshai : — 

I have but little to tell you to cheer you on 

my account. My health, which had stood the trial won- 
derfully, was beginning to fail, but I shall soon be strong 
again in this healthy mountain air 7,000 feet above the 
sea. 

This is a great thing, but it is very hard to begin again 
as a regimental subaltern after nearly eleven years' hard 
work. However, I am very fond of the profession, and 
there is much to be done, and much learnt, and, under 
any other circumstances, I should not regret being with 
English soldiers again for a time. Every one believes 
that I shall soon be righted, but the " soon " is a long 
time coming. I was mucTi gratified the other day by an 
unexpected visit from Mr. Charles Raikes, one of the 
Punjaub Commissioners, who was passing through Um- 
bala, on his way to take a high appointment at Agra. I 
had no personal knowledge of him, but he came out of 
his way to call upon me, and express his sympathy and 
his appreciation of (what he was pleased to call) my high 
character. 

He said much that was encouraging and pleasing, which 
I need not repeat. It served jjleasantly, however, to show 
that the tide was turning, and that in good men's minds 
my character stood as high as ever. 

In addition to his other troubles, my brother 

10 



218 DUGSHAI. 

was suffering all this time from a dislocated ankle. 
He says in June : — 

I have nothing to tell you of myself, save that I have 
to-day, for the first time for eight weeks, put my foot to 
the ground ; I cannot, however, yet walk a yai'd without 
crutches. 



DUGSHAI, Sept. 2'ith, 1856. 

I strive to look the worst boldly in the face as I would 
an enemy in the field, and to do my appointed work reso- 
lutely and to the best of my ability, satisfied that there is 
a reas(?ii for all ; and that even irksome duties well done 
bring their own reward, and that if not, still they are 
duties. 

But it is sometimes hard to put up with the change ! 
I am getting a little stronger on my ankle, but am still 
unable, at the end of five months, to do more than walk 
about the house. Fancy my not being able to walk 200 
yards for half a year. 



DUGSHAI, Nov. 6th. 

I yearn to be at home again and see you all, but I am 
obliged to check all such repinings and longings, and 
keep down all canker cares and bitternesses, and set my 
teeth hai'd, and will earnestly to struggle on and do my 
allotted work as well and cheerfully as may be, satisfied 
that in the end a brighter time will come. 

1 know nothing in my brother's whole career 
more truly admirable, or showing more real hero- 



REGIMENTAL DUTIES. 219 

ism, than his conduct at this period while battling 
with adverse fates. 

Deeply as he felt the change in his position, he 
accommodated himself to it in a manner that 
won the admiration and esteem of all. Instead 
of despising his regimental duties, irksome and 
uninteresting, comparatively speaking, as they 
were, he discharged them with a zeal and energy, 
as well as cheerfulness, which called forth the fol- 
lowing strong expressions of commendation from 
the colonel of his regiment. They are taken from 
a letter addressed to the Adjutant- General of the 
army : — 

" Umbala, Jan. 18ih, 1857. 
. . . " I consider it a duty, and at the same time feel a 
great pleasure, in requesting you to submit, for the con- 
sideration of his Excellency the Commander-in-Chief, 
this my public record and acknowledgment of the very 
essential service Lieutenant Hodson has done the regi- 
ment at my especial request. On the arrival of the regi- 
ment at Dugshai, I asked Lieutenant Hodson to act as 
quartermaster. I pointed out to him that, mainly owing 
to a rapid succession of quartermasters when the regi- 
ment was on field-service, the office had fallen into very 
great disoi'der ; . . and that he would have to restore 
order out of complicated disorder, and to organize a more 
efficient working system for future guidance and observ- 
ance. To my great relief and satisfaction, Lieutenant 
Hodson most cheerfully undertook the onerous duties ; 
he was suffering at the same time severe bodily pain, 
consequent on a serious accident, yet this did not in any 
way damp his energy, or prevent his most successfully 



220 TESTIMONY OF COLONEL WELCHMAN. 

carrying out the object in view. . . It is impossible to do 
otherwise than believe that this officer's numerous quali- 
fications are virtually lost to the State by his being em- 
ployed as a regimental subaltern, as he is fitted for, and 
capable of doing great justice to, any staff situation ; and 
I am convinced, that should his Excellency receive with 
approval this solicitation to confer on him some appoint- 
ment suited to the high ability, energy, and zeal which I 
fear I have but imperfectly brought to notice, it would be 
as highly advantageous to the service as gratifying to 
myself. An officer whose superior mental acquirements 
are fully, acknowledged by all who know him ; who has 
ably performed the duties of a civil magistrate in a dis- 
turbed district ; whose knowledge of engineering has 
been practically brought into play in the construction of a 
fort on the Northwestern frontier ; whose gallant conduct 
in command of a reginient in many a smart engagement 
has been so highly commended, and by such competent 
authorities, is one whom I have confidence in recom- 
mending for advancement ; and in earnestly, yet most 
respectfully, pressing the recommendation, I plead this 
officer's high qualifications as ray best apology. . . . 
" I have, &c. 
(Signed) " J. Welchman, 

" Lieut.- Col. Commanding 1st Bengal 
Fusileers." 

Quite as strong was the testimony borne by 
Brigadier- General Johnstone : — 



" To the Adjutant-General of the Army. 

" SiRHiND Division, Head-Quarters, Umbala 
Jan. 30th, 1857. 

" Sir, — My mere counter-signature to Colonel Welch 



GENERAL JOHNSTONE. 221 

man's letter in favor of Lieutenant liodson seems so 
much less than the occasion demands, that I trust his 
Excellency will allow of my submitting it in a more 
special and marked manner. I beg to accompany Col- 
onel Welchman's letter with a testimony of my own to 
the high character of the officer in question. 

" Rejoining his regiment as a lieutenant, from the ex- 
ercise of an important command calling daily for the 
display of his energy, activity, and self-reliance, and fre- 
quently for the manifestation of the highest qualities of 
the partisan leader, or of the regular soldier, Lieutenant 
Hodson, with patience, perseverance, and zeal, undertook 
and carried out the laborious minor duties of the regi- 
mental staff as well as those of a company ; and, with a 
diligence, method, and accuracy such as the best trained 
regimental officers have never surpassed, succeeded, in a 
manner fully justifying the high commendation bestowed 
on him by his commanding officer. As a soldier in the 
field, Lieutenant Hodson has gained the applause of 
officers of the highest reputation, eye-witnesses of his 
ability and courage. On the testimony of others, I refer 
to these, and that testimony so honorable to his name I 
beg hei'ewith to submit to his Excellency. 

" On my own observation, I am enabled to speak to 
Lieutenant Hodson's character and qualities in quarters, 
and I do so in terms of well-earned commendation, and 
at the same time in the earnest hope that his merits and 
qualitications will obtain for him such favor and prefer- 
ment at the hands of his Excellency as he may deem fit 
to bestow on this deserving officer. 
" I have, &c. 
(Signed) " M. C. Johnstone, 

" Brigadier- General, ^c.'"'' 



222 WINTER CAMP. 

I must add a few more extracts from Lieuten- 
ant Hodson's letters to myself and others, to 
complete this part of his history : — 

DuGSHAi, Api'il 7i7i, IBS?. 
Your letter written this clay three months reached me 
at Umbala, at our mildest of " Chobhams " in the middle 
of February, and deserved an earlier reply, but I have 
been taken quite out of the private correspondence line 
lately, by incessant calls on my time. Regimental work 
in camp in India, with European regiments, no less than 
in quarters, is contrived to cut up one's time into infinites- 
imal quantities, and keep one waiting for every other 
half hour through the day. I had more time for writing 
when I commanded a frontier regiment, and governed a 
province ! These winter camps are very profitable, how- 
ever, and not by any means unpleasant ; and as Umbala 
was very full, we had an unusual amount of society for 
India, and some very pleasant meetings. I v\'as too lame 
to dance, but not to dine, and take part in charades or 
tableaux, and so forth, and so contrived to keep alive 
after the day's work was over. I got some Kvdoe and vast 
kindness for performing the more strictly professional 
role of brigade-major to one of the infantry brigades, 
and had excellent opportunities of learning the essential, 
but so seldom taught or learned art, of manoeuvring 
j,j, bodies of troops. My service has been so much on the 
frontier and with detached corps, that I had previously 
had but small opportunities for the study. I had an 
interview with General Anson the other day, and I hope 
a satisfactory one. He is a very pleasant mannered and 
gentlemanly man, open and frank in speech, and quick to 
a proverb in apprehension, taking in the pith of a matter 



HOPES OF REDRESS. 223 

at a glance. As I always thought, it turned out that 
Major Taylor's report had never reached the Com- 
mander-in-Chief, and they had only the old one-sided 
story to go upon. I explained the whole to him, and as 
he had already very kindly read the papers relating to 
the matter, he quite comprehended it, and begged me to 
give him a copy of Taylor's report, when he would, if 
satisfied, try and see justice done me. I trust, therefore, 
that at last something will be done to clear me from all 
stigma in the matter. As soon as that is done he will 
give me some appointment or other, unless Government 
do it themselves. Sir Henry Lawrence writes to me 
most kindly, and is only waiting a favorable opportunity 
to help me. 

We are in a state of some anxiety, owing to the spread 
of a very serious spirit of disaffection among the Sepoy 
army. One regiment (the 19th of the line) has already 
been disbanded, and, if all have their dues, more yet will 
be so before long. It is our great danger in India, and' 
Lord Hai'dinge's prophecy, that our biggest fight in India 
would be with our own army, seems not unlikely to be 
realized, and that before long. Native papers, education, 
and progress are against keeping 200,000 native merce- 
naries in hand. 



To a Friend in Calcutta. 

DuGSHAi, May 5ih, 185T. 
Unless I hear of something to my advantage mean- 
while, I propose starting for Calcutta about the middle of 
this merry month of May, with the object of endeavoring 
to eifect, by personal appeal and explanations, the self- 
vindication which no mere paper warfare seems likely to 



224 PROPOSED JOURNEY TO CALCUTTA. 

extort from Government. I had waited patiently for 
nearly two years, " striving to be quiet and do my own 
business," in the hope that justice, however tardy, would 
certainly ovei'take me, when an incident occurred which 
showed that I must adopt a more active mode of proce- 
dure if I wished for success. On applying for employ- 
ment with the force in Persia, I met with a refusal, on 
the ground of what had occurred when in command of 
the Guides. This, you will allow, was calculated to drive 
a man to extremities who had been under the impression 
all along that his conduct, whensoever and howsoever 
called in question, had been amply vindicated. 

It appeared that while everything to my disadvantage 
had been carefully communicated by the Punjaub author- 
ities to army head-quartei's, they had, with true liberality 
and generosity, suppressed " in toto " the results of the 
subsequent inquiry which had, in the opinion of all good 
men, amply cleared my good name from the dirt lavished 
on it. Even the Secretaries to Government had never 
heard of this vindication, and were going on believing 
all manner of things to my discredit ; Lord Canning, 
also, being utterly ignorant of the fact that, subsequently 
to Lord Dalhousie's departure, the results of the second 
investigation had been communicated to Government. 

There were clearly three courses open to me, " a la 
Sir Robert Peel." 

1st. Suicide. 

2d. To resign the service in disgust, and join the 
enemy. 

3d. To make the Governor- General eat his words, and 
apologize. 

I chose the last. 

The first was too melodramatic and foreign ; the second 



INTERVIEW WITH GENERAL ANSON. 225 

would have been a triumph to my foes in the Punjaub ; 
besides, the enemy might have been beaten ! 

I have determined therefore, on a trip to Calcutta. 

You will, I have no doubt, agree with me that I am 
perfectly right in taking the field against the enemy, and 
not allowing the Government to rest until I have carried 
my point. 

In another letter of the same date : — 

I have had another interview with General Anson at 
Simla, and nothing could have been more satisfactory. 
He was most polite, even cordial, and while he approved 
of my suggestion of going down to Calcutta to have per- 
sonal explanations with the people there, and evidently 
thought it a pluoky idea to undertake a journey of 2,500 
miles in such weather (May and June), yet he said that 
I had better wait till I heard again from him, for he 
would write himself to Lord Canning, and try to get 
justice done me. 

I do trust the light is breaking through the darkness, 
and that before long I may have good news to send you, 
in which I am sure you will rejoice. 

It did break from a most unexpected quarter. 

This was the last letter received in England 
from my brother for some months. Six days 
after it was written, the outbreak at Meerut oc- 
curred, and almost immediately India was in a 
blaze. 

" Fortunate was it," my brother afterwards 
said, " that I was delayed by General Anson till 
he received an answer from Lord Canning, or I 



226 TURN OF FOETUNE. 

should undoubtedly have been murdered at some 
station on the road. The answer never came. It 
must have been between Calcutta and Allygurh 
when disturbances broke out, and was, with all 
the daks for many days, destroyed or plundered." 

Most fortunate, too, was it, (if we may use 
such an expression,) that in the hour of India's 
extremity. Lieutenant Hodson was within reach 
of the Commander-in-Chief, and available for 
service. It was no longer a time to stand on 
official etiquette. In that crisis, which tried the 
bravest to the utmost, when a strong will and 
cool head and brave heart were needed, he at 
once rose again to his proper place in counsel 
and in action. 

But I must not anticipate what belongs to the 
next chapter. One fact, however, I cannot re- 
frain from stating here, as an appropriate conclu- 
sion of this narrative, that within six weeks of 
the date of the last letter. Lieutenant Hodson 
was actually commanding in the field, before the 
walls of Delhi, by General Barnard's special re- 
quest, the very corps of Guides from which he 
had been so unjustly ousted two years before. 

" Was there ever," he says in reference to it, " a 
stranger turn on the wheel of fortune? I have 
much cause to be grateful, and I hope I shall not 
forget the bitter lessons of adversity." 



PART II. 



NARRATIVE OF THE DELHI CAMPAIGN, 

1857. 



CHAPTER I. 



MAKCH DOWN TO DELHI. 



On the 10th May occurred the outbreak at 
Meerut, closely followed by the massacre at 
Delhi. 

On the 13th, orders were received at Dugshai, 
from the Commander-in-Chief, for the Ist Bengal 
European Fusileers to march without delay to 
Umbala, where all the regiments from the hiU 
stations were to concentrate. They set out that 
afternoon, and reached UmbRla, a distance of 
sixty miles, on the morning of the second day. 
From this point Lieutenant Hodson's narrative 
commences. It is compiled from the letters or 
bulletins which he sent day by day to his wife, 
^vritten as best they might, in any moments 
which he could snatch from the overwhelming 
press of work, sometimes on the. field, sometimes 
on horseback. It is almost unnecessary to ob- 
serve, that they were not intended for the public 



228 DELHI CAMPAIGN. 

eye, and would never have been published had 
my lamented brother been alive, as he had the 
greatest horror of any of his letters appearing in 
print. Now, unhappily, the case is different, and 
I feel, in common with many of his friends, that 
in justice both to himself and to the gallant band 
who formed the " army before Delhi," this record 
of heroic fortitude and endurance ought not to be 
withheld. It does not profess to be a history of 
the siege, or military operations connected with 
it ; though it is a most valuable contribution to 
any history, as Lieutenant Hodson, from his po- 
sition as head of the Intelligence Department, 
knew better, probably, than any other man what 
was going on both amongst the enemy and in 
our own force ; and his incidental notices will 
tell, better, perhaps, than the most labored de- 
scription, what our men did and what they suf- 
fered. Full justice will probably never be done 
them, nor their trying position appreciated as it 
ought to be ; besiegers in name, though more 
truly besieged ; exposed to incessant attacks night 
and day ; continually thinned in numbers by the 
sword, the buUet, the sunstroke, and cholera, and 
for many weeks receiving no reinforcements ; 
feeling sometimes as if they were forgotten by 
their countrymen, and yet holding their ground 
against a nation in arms, without murmuring or 
complaining, and with unshaken determination. 
All accounts agree in speaking of the cheerful 
and " plucky " spirit that prevailed, both amongst 



CHEERFUL SPIRIT. 229 

officers and men, notwithstanding fatigue, pri- 
vation, and sickness, as something quite remark- 
able even amongst British soldiers. And if there 
was one more than another who contributed to 
inspire and keep up this spirit, if there was one 
more than another who merited that which a 
Roman would have considered the highest praise, 
that he never despaired of his country, it was 
Lieutenant Hodson. I have seen a letter from a 
distinguished officer, in which he says : — 

" Affairs at times looked very queer, from the 
frightful expenditure of life. Hodson's face was 
then like sunshine breaking through the dark 
clouds of despondency and gloom that would 
-settle down occasionally on all but a few brave 
hearts, England's worthiest sons, who were deter- 
mined to conquer." 

If any should be disposed to think that my 
brother, in these letters, speaks too exclusively of 
his own doings, they must remember, in the first 
place, to whom they were addressed ; and second- 
ly, that in describing events — quorum pars magna 
fuit — it would be almost impossible not to speak 
of himself. 

He himself, even in writing to his wife, thinks 
it necessary to apologize for being " egotistical." 
I believe, on the other hand, that the highest in- 
terest of the following narrative will be found to 
consist in its being a personal narrative, a history 
of the man, an unreserved outspeaking of his 



230 _ DELHI CAMPAIGN. 

mind and feelings ; nor am I afraid of others 
thinking apology called for. Nor, however much 
they may disagree from his criticisms on men and 
measures, will they deny that he was well quali- 
fied, both by his opportunities of observation at 
the time, and his past experience of Asiatic char- 
acter, to form a judgment and express an opinion 
without exposing himself to the charge of pre- 
sumption. 

Umbala, May 16th, 1857. 
We got here after two nights of very harassing march- 
ing. We started badly, the men having been drinking 
before they came to parade, and they were hurried too 
much in going down hill, consequently there was much 
straggling ; but, thanks to tattoos (ponies) and carts and 
elephants, sent out to meet us, we got in to-day in toler- 
able completeness. Affairs are very serious, and unless 
very prompt and vigorous measures are taken, the whole 
army, and perhaps a large portion of India, will be lost 
to us. Delhi is in the hands of the mutineers, — no Eu- 
ropean that we can hear of being left alive there, — men, 
women, and children, all who were caught, have been 
butchered ! Brigadier Graves, Abbott, and some others 
have escaped. Willoughby, the Ordnance Commissary in 
charge of the magazine and arsenal, is said to have fired 
it himself to prevent the mutineers having possession of 
the contents to arm themselves with, — of course sacri- 
ficing his own life to such a duty. A lac and a half 
of muskets would otherwise have been in the hands of 
the insurgents. The Commander-in-Chief came in this 
morning. Here alarm is the prevalent feeling, and 
conciliation, of men with arms in their hands and in 



ALARM AND INDECISION. 231 

a state of absolute rebellion, the order of the day. This 
system, if jjursued, is far more dangerous than anything 
the Sepoys can do to us. There is an outbreak at 
Ferozepoor, but the Europeans have the fort in their 
possession ; if not, we should be without arms, for the 
regiments here have no ammunition, and Philour, our 
nearest source of supply, was nearly falling into the hands 
of the Sepoys. Even now, some say it is at their mercy. 
Fortunately the Maharaja of Puttiala is stanch, and so 
are other Sikh chiefs hereabouts. We shall go on to 
Delhi in a few days. That city is in the hands of the 
insurgents, and the King proclaimed Emperor of Hindos- 
tan. ! I do trust that the authorities will act with vigor, 
else there is no knowing where the affair will end. Oh 
for Sir Charles Napier now ! 

l%th. — Little is known for certain of what is going on, 
as there is no communication Avith, or from, below. At 
present, the native troops have all gone off bodily ; none 
remain in cantonments. We march, I believe, on Mon- 
day, — 9th Lancers, 75th Queen's, 1st Fusileers, and nine 
guns, taking the 5th, 60th Native Infantry, and 4th Cav- 
alry with us, — nice companions ! However, they can do 
us no harm, and they might do great mischief if left here. 
There has been an outbreak at Ferozepoor and Philour, 
but the magazine and bridge at the first place are safe in 
the hands of her Majesty's 60th, and the authorities at 
JuUundur sent off a party of Europeans and Horse Ar- 
tillery at once, who secured the fort at Philour ; other- 
wise we should have had no ammunition but what the sol- 
diers carried in their pouches. The times are critical, 
but I have no fear of aught save the alarm and indeci- 
sion of our rulers. All here is sheer confusion, and there 
is a tendency to treat these rebellious Sepoys with a ten- 



2.32 MASSACRE AT DELHI. 

derness as misplaced as it would be pernicious. There is 
actually a talk of concentrating troops, and waiting to be 
joined by others before marching on Delhi ; and they 
utterly refuse to detach even a party on Kurnal to pro- 
tect the officers and treasury there. This is all very sad, 
and sometimes makes one disposed to question whether 
we are not suffering from the " dementia " which Provi- 
dence sends as the forerunner of ruin. However, our 
course is not yet run, and whatever clouds may gather 
over us, there are good results in store. The Punjaub is 
quiet. The native troops at Mean-Meer were quietly 
disarmed, and do their guards with bayonets only. This 
excellent arrangement is Sir John Lawrence's doing. 
JSTothing is known of Lucknow, or, indeed of any place 
below Meerut. AUygurh is supposed to have gone. 
Some details of the massacre at Delhi, which I have just 
heard from one of the escapees, are awful beyond belief. 
Charlie Thomason is said to have escaped ; Mr. Jennings, 
the chaplain, and his daughter were among the victims. 
Mr. Beresford, his wife, and five daughters all massacred. 
Poor Colonel Ripley lived long enough to say he was 
killed by his own men. De Teissier's native artillery- 
men joined the rebels with their guns ; — he escaped, 
though severely wounded. 

nth. — We are all terribly anxious about the hill sta- 
tions, reports having reached us that the Goorkhas have 
mutinied and attacked Simla. 100 men, with ammunition, 
have gone off this morning to Kussowlee. Dugshai is 

easily defended. Simla is most to be feared 

All this has put out of my head for the time the good 
news for us. Yesterday I was sent for by the Com- 
mander-in-Chief, and appointed Assistant Quartermaster- 
General on his personal staff, to be under the immediate 



MOVABLE FORCE. 233 

orders of his Excellency, and with command to raise 
100 horse and 50 foot, for service in the Intelligence 
Department, and as personal escort. All this was done, 
moreover, in a most complimentary way, and it is quite 
in my line. I am prej^ared to set to work vigorously ; 
but I confess my anxiety on account of the reports we 
hear respecting the hill stations makes me cruelly anx- 
ious General Anson, it seems, wrote about 

me to Talbot, but could get no answer before the out- 
break occurred, which makes this act of his, on his own 
responsibility, the more complimentary. It is very un- 
certain now when we move on. All is quiet in the Pun- 
jaub, I am thankful to say, and the rebels have had 
a lesson read them at Ferozepoor which will do good. 
The 45th Native Infantry were nearly cut to pieces by 
the 10th Light Cavalry,* who pursued them for twelve 
miles, and cut them to pieces. This last is a great fact. 
One regiment at least has stood by us, and the moral 
effect will be great ; nothing known yet from below. 
Poor Macdonald, of the 20th Native Infantry, his wife, 
and their three babes, murdered, with adjuncts not to 
be mentioned. John Lawrence is acting with great 
vigor, and they have organized a movable force at 
Jhelum, composed of her Majesty's 24th and 27th, the 
Guides, Kumaon Battalion, and other Irregulars, to move 
in any required direction. Montgomery writes in great 
spirits and confidence from Lahore. I am just sent for 
by the chief. 

KuRNAL, May l^th. — According to orders, I left 

Umbala at 8.30 p. m., and reached here at 4.30 a. m., 

having prepared everything at Peeplee en route. I had 

only " Bux " f with me, and did not apprehend any dan- 

* They afterwards mutinied. t His bearer. 



234 NEW EEGIMENT. 

ger until within a few miles of Kurnal, but nothing 
whatever happened ; the road was deserted, and not a 
soul to be seen. I am sheltered in a house occupied by 
the refugees from Delhi and the civil officers of Kurnal, 
about fifteen in all, with Mrs. Wagentrieber, her hus- 
band, and sundry sergeants, &c. The European troops 
will be here to-night. What would I not give for a 
couple of hundred of my old Guides ! I flatter myself 
I could do something then. As it is, I must bide my 
time until I can get a few good men together on whom 
I can depend. I have been so busy all day, writing let- 
ters on my knee, sending off electric messages, cum multis 
aliis. I can but rejoice that I am employed again ; cer- 
tain, too, as I am, that the star of Old England will 
shine the brighter in the end, and we shall hold a prouder 
position than ever. But the crisis is an awful one ! 

May 19th. — This morning the Commander-in-Chief 
ordered me to raise and command an entire new regi- 
ment of Irregular Horse. I do not know who or what 
has been at work for me, but he seems willing enough to 
give me work to do, and I am willing enough to do it. 
The European troops arrived this morning (I sent a tele- 
graphic message to say so) ; and the Rajah of Jheend, 
with his men, last night. I have offered to clear the 
road and open the communication to Meerut and Delhi 
with the Rajah's Horse. If the Chief will consent, I 
think I am sure of success. It is believed that nothing 
has occurred at Agra. The Punjaub all quiet up to last 
night ; as long as that is the case we shall do. With 
God and our Saxon arms to aid us, I have firm faith in 
the result. 

20th. — Deep anxiety about the safety of the hill sta- 
tions continues unabated; no letters, — no certainty, — 



EXPEDITION TO MEERUT. 235 

only rumors. Were it not for this, I should enter with 
full zest into the work before me, and the fresh field 
which I owe to General Anson's kindness. He has at 
last consented to my trying to open communication with 
Meerut, so I start this afternoon to try to make my way 
across with a party of the Jheend Horse ; and I have, 
under Providence, little doubt of success, though I would 
rather have a party of my dear old Guides. There has 
been an outbreak at Agra, but all the Europeans are 
shut up in the fort ; Allygurh and Moradabad have mu- 
tinied, but by God's help we shall get safely through. 

20th, 2 p. M. — Just one line to say I am starting, and 
shall not be able to write to-morrow or next day. Still 
no tidings from the hills ! This is a terrible additional 
pull upon one's nerves at a time like this, and is a phase 
of war I never calculated on. 

May 24:th. — I returned from my expedition to Mee- 
rut late last night. It was eminently successful, and I 
am off immediately to Umbala to report progress to the 
Chief. Much relieved by a letter from you. 

25th. — A hurried line only to say I am safe and well, 
but dead beat. I went yesterday to Umbala by mail- 
cart to report to the Commander-in-Chief. Got there at 
6 p. M., and started back again at 11 p. m. As I have 
only had one night in bed out of five, I am tolerably 
weary. The Commander-in-Chief arrived this morning. 
I will give you more jDarticulars when I have slept. 

From a letter written from camp before Delhi, 
in August, to Colonel D. Seaton : — 

. . . "As soon as the Commander-in-Chief reached 
Umbala he sent for me, and put me in charge of the In- 
telhgence Department, as an Assistant Quartermaster- 



236 RIDE TO MEERUT. 

General under his personal orders. I left Umbala by 
mail-cart that night for Kurnal, ascertained the state of 
things, made arrangements for the protection and shelter 
of the advanced party, and offered to open the road to 
Meerut, from Kurnal. He replied by telegraph. Sev- 
enty-two hours afterwards, I was back in Kurnal. and 
telegraphed to him that I had forced my way to Meerut,* 
and obtained all the papers he wanted from the General 
there. These I gave him four hours later in Umbala. 
The pace pleased him, I fancy, for he ordered me to 
raise a Corps of Irregular Horse, and appointed me 
Commandant." 



May 25th, Evening. — I wrote this morning a few 

* Letter from, an Officer. 
" When the mutiny broke out, our communications were completely 
cut off. One night, on outlying picket at Meerut, this subject being 
discussed, I said, ' Hodsou is at Umbala, I know; and I'll bet he will 
force his way through, and open communications with the Com- 
mander-in-Chief and ourselves.' At about three that night I heard 
my advanced sentries firing. I rode off to see what was the matter, 
and they told me that a party of enemy's cavalry had approached 
their post. When day broke, in galloped Hodson. He had left Kurnal 
(seventy-six miles off) at nine the night before, with one led horse 
and an escort of Sikh cavalry, and, as I had anticipated, here he was 
with despatches for Wilson ! How I quizzed him for approaching an 
armed post at night without knowing the parole. Hodson rode 
straight to Wilson, had his interview, a bath, breakfast, and two 
hours' sleep, and then rode back the seventy-six miles, and had to 
fight his way for about thirty miles of the distance." 
Another oificei", writing to his wife at this time, says: — 
" Hodson's gallant deeds more resemble a chapter from the life of 
Bayard or Amadis de Gaul, than the doings of a subaltern of the 
nineteenth century. The only feeling mixed with my admiration for 
him is envy." 



PANIC AT MEERUT. 237 

hurried lines to keep you fiom anxiety. I was too tired 
to do more, the continued night-work had wearied me out, 
and when I got back here at half-past six this morning I 
was fairly dead beat. Poor Charlie Thomason is with 
me. I am happy to have been in some measure instru- 
mental in getting him in in safety, by offering a heavy 
sum to the villagers. He had been wandering about in 
the jungles, with several other refugees, for days, without 
food or shelter. I am deeply grieved for him, poor fel- 
low ! The state of panic at Meerut was shocking ; all 
the ladies shut up in an inclosed barrack, and their hus- 
bands sleeping in the men's barracks for safety, and never 
going beyond the sentries. 

General Hewitt is in a state of helpless imbecility. 
The best and boldest spirit there was our friend Alfred 
Light, doing his work manfully and well. He had had 
some miraculous escapes. My commission is to raise a 
body of Irregular Horse on the usual rates of pay and 
the regular complement of native officers, but the num- 
ber of troops to be unlimited, — ^. e., I am to raise as 
many men as I please ; 2,000, if I can get them. The 
worst of it is, the being in a part of the country I do 
not know, and the necessity of finding men who can be 
trusted. Mr. Montgomery is aiding me wonderfully. He 
called upon some of my old friends among the Sirdars 
to raise men for me. Shumshere Singh is raising one 
troop ; Tej Singh ditto ; Emaumoodeen ditto ; Mr. Mont- 
gomery himself one or two ditto. All these Avill be ready 
in about three weeks. I am to remain Assistant Quar- 
termaster-General, attached to the Commander-in-Chief. 
This allows me free access to him at any time, and to 
other people in authority, which gives me power for 
good. The Intelligence Department is mine exclusively, 



238 DEATH OF GENERAL ANSON. 

and I have for this line Sir Henry's old friend, the one- 
eyed Moulvie, Rujub Alee, so I shall get the best news 
in the country. Montgomery has come out very, very 
strong indeed, and behaved admirably. The native regi- 
ments at Peshavvur have been disarmed. One at Nao- 
shera (the 55th) was sent over to occupy Murd&n in the 
absence of the Guides. They have mutinied, and seized 
the fort, and confined the Assistant Commissioner. Gen- 
eral Cotton is going against them, and the Euzofzai folks 
will do their best to prevent a man escaping. As yet the 
Punjaub is quiet, and the Irregulars true. The Guides 
are coming down here by forced marches. 

Camp, Paneeput, 21th. — I wrote to you this morn- 
ing, but as I shall not probably be in the way of daks 
to-morrow, I write a few lines to be sent after I start 
on^vards. You will have heard of the sad death of Gen- 
eral Anson. He was taken with cholera yesterday, and 
died without pain from collapse this morning. He made 
over command to General Barnard with his last breath. 
Sir Henry only arrived from Umbala just in time. His 
death is politically a vast misfortune just at this crisis, 
and personally I am deeply grieved, and the natives will 
be highly elated. I am even now hard at work, raising 
my men, or taking means to do so, and have already had 
applications for officers ; but I shall not settle on officei's 
till the men begin to collect, and this time I will take care 
to have none but gentlemen, if I can help it. I am going 
downwards to-night to look after the bridge * on this side 
of Delhi, about thirty miles hence, by which the Meerut 
troops will move to join us. I take the Jheend Horse ; 
Colonel T. Seaton is commanding the 60th Native In- 
fantry, and will be here to-night with them. I don't envy 

* At Bhagput. 



SIXTIETH NATIVE INFANTRY. 239 

him his new command, but he is a good man, and a brave 
soldier, and if any man can get them over the mess, he 
will do it. Sir H. Barnard is a fine gentlemanly old 
man, but hardly up to his work. However, we must all 
put our shoulders to the wheel, and help him over the 
crisis. I trust he will act with vigor, for we have de- 
layed far too long already. 

29<A. — There is nothing new. I travelled eighty 
miles between 2 p. m. yesterday, and ten this morning, 
besides heaps of business. I am tired, I confess, for the 
heat is awful. The treasuries are empty, and no drafts 
are to be cashed, so how we are to get money I cannot 
imagine. We hear that a request has gone to Lord 
Canning to send for Pat Grant as Commander-in- 
Chief, pending instructions. I grieve for poor General 
Anson, and I ought to do so, for he was a good friend 
to me. 

SuMALKA, ^Qth. — My earnest representations and re- 
monstrances seem at last to have produced some effect, 
for at 7 p. M. yesterday we got an order to move on. The 
head-quarters follow us to-night from Kurnal. The " we " 
means three squadrons of 9th Lancers, Money's troop of 
Horse Artillery, and 1st Fusileers. Brigadier Hallifax is 
in command, but so ill from heat and anxiety, that I be- 
gin to be anxious about him, and whether he will be able 
to remain with the force is doubtful. Colonel T. Seaton 
has gone on to Rohtuck with the 60th Native Infantry, 
who, I have no doubt, will desert to a man as soon as 
they get there. It is very plucky of him and the other 
officers to go ; and very hard of the authorities to send 
them ; a half-hearted measure, and very discreditable, in 
my opinion, to all concerned ; affording a painful contrast 
to Sir John Lawrence's bold and decided conduct in this 



240 MARCH TO DELHI. 

crisis. The old Guides are to be here on the 8th or 10th 
to join us. The heat here is a caution, and writing in 
this melting climate anything but easy, especially as 
chairs and tables are not common. This regiment (1st 
Fusileers) is a credit to any army, and the fellows are in 
as high spirits and heart, and as plucky and free from 
croaking as possible, and really do good to the whole 
force. 

KussowLEE, May 31si. — Here we are one more 
stage on our road to Delhi ; we are, however, to halt a 
couple of days or so at the next stage (Race), to await 
the arrival of General Barnard. Poor Brigadier Halli- 
fax was so ill that he would clearly have died had he 
remained here, so we had a medical committee, put him 
into my shigram (a travelling wagon), and sent him off 
to Kurnal for Umbala and the hills. I sent a telegraphic 
message for Mrs. Hallifax to meet him at Umbala. 
This is but the beginning of this work, I fear ; and before 
this business ends, we who are, thank God ! still young 
and strong shall alone be left in camp ; all the elderly 
gentlemen will sink under the fatigue and exposure. I 
think of asking for Mr. Macdowell as my second in com- 
mand ; he is a gentleman, and only wants opportunity to 
become a gallant soldier. The whole onus of work here 
is on my shoulders ; every one comes to me for advice 
and assistance, which is purely absurd. I shall do all 
the work and others get the credit, as usual ; but in these 
days we cannot afford to spare ourselves. The Empire is 
at stake, and all we love and reverence is in the balance. 
I tried to persuade them to send General Johnstone to 
Meerut to supersede Hewitt. I wish he had been there 
and was here ; we have few as good. 

Raee, Jime \s,t. — I have just been roused up from 



DEATH OF BRIGADIER HALLIFAX. 241 

the first sleep I have had, for I don't know how long, 
(lying under a peepul-tree, with a fine breeze like liquid 
fire blowing over me,) by the news that the dak is going, 
so I can only say that all is well, and that we are here, 
about twenty miles from Delhi, and I hope ere night to 
capture some of the rascals who stripped and ill-treated 
two ladies near this the other day on their flight to the 
hills. 

Colonel Hope Grant has arrived to command the 
force until General Barnard comes, which will be on the 
4th, and the Meerut people also. The Delhi mutineers 
marched out ten miles, and attacked Brigadier "Wilson 
on the night of the 30th, at Ghazeenuggur, on his way 
to this place. He drove them back, and captured all 
their guns. Some 8,000 or 10,000 of them came out, 
and he had only about 1,000 men. Long odds, this ; but 
of course all his men were Europeans. I fear the 14th 
Irregulars have joined the mutineers. If they would 
only make haste and get to Delhi, we might do some- 
thing. 

Raee, 2d. — You will have been as much shocked as 
I was by the tidings of poor Brigadier Hallifax's death 
at Kurnal, only a few hours after I had put him into the 
carriage, with the comfortable assurance that his wife 
would meet him at Umbala. He died from congestion 
of the brain. I have been much affected by this, for I 
had a warm regard for him, and his very helplessness 
tlie last few days seemed to strengthen the tie. I feel 
deeply for his poor wife and children. Colonel Mowat 
of the artillery is dead too, of cholera. The weather is 
undoubtedly very trying for old and infirm men ; but we 
are all well here, and there is no sickness to speak of 
among the troops. All will be here to-morrow. Head- 
11 



242 EAGER TO FIGHT. 

quarters, 75th, Queen's, and remainder of 9th Lancers ; 
the heavy guns and 2d Fusileers are only a short way 
behind. Colonel Hope Grant commands. The Meerut 
folks have had another fight (on the 31st) with the Delhi 
mutineers, and again beaten them ; but this constant ex- 
posure is very trying to Europeans. I wish we were 
moving nearer Delhi more rapidly, as all now depends 
on our quickly disposing of this mighty sore. I wish 
from my heart we had Sir Henry Lawrence here ; he is 
the man for the crisis. We are all in high spirits ; only 
eager to get at the villains who have committed atrocities 
which make the blood run cold but to think of. I trust 
the retribution will be short, sharp, and decisive. 

Another batch of half-starved, half-naked Europeans, 
men, women, and children (a deputy collector and his 
family), were brought into camp to-day, after wandering 
twenty-thi'ee days in the jungle. 

Raee, 3d. — Things are so quiet in the Punjaub that 
I begin to hope that, if we do but make haste in disposing 
of Delhi, the campaign may not be so long, after all. 
Everything depends on that ; w^e dare not, however, cal- 
culate on such good fortune either to our arms or our- 
selves. The head-quartei's' people joined this morning ; 
they seem to stand it better than I expected. Congreve 
complains a good deal, but Keith Young and Arthur 
Becher are well. I have not yet seen Sir H. Barnard. 
I was kept up and out half the night, and then out again 
at daybreak, so I am too tired and busy to loaj visits. 
There has been no further fight that we know of. Char- 
lie Thomason rejoined us this morning ; he has picked 
up a little since his starvation time ended, and does not 
look so like a wild beast as he did. . Still good news 
from Agra; there are, however, reports which tend to 



RECONNOITRING. 243 

show disturbances in the Allyghur and Bolundshur dis- 
tricts. 

Aleepore, 6th. — You must not be anxious on my 
account ; I am in as good a position as possible for a 
subaUern to be, unless, indeed, I had my regiment ready 
for service. I am second only to Becher in the Quarter- 
master-General Department, and the InteUigence De- 
partment is entirely my own. I feel deeply for poor 
Mrs. Hallifax and her large family, and am dehghted 
that you are able to aid them. I have tried everywhere 
to get a bearer, but the natives will not serve us now, 
and I could get no one even on double pay. Only two 
days ago I succeeded in getting a Bheestie. If we 
could but get all the seventy-four native infantry regi- 
ments in one lump we could manage them, but they will 
never stand after we get our guns to work. I rode right 
up to the Delhi parade-ground this morning to recon- 
noitre, and the few Sowars, whom I met, galloped away 
like mad at the sight of one white face. Had I had a 
hundred Guides with me I would have gone up to the 
very walls. 

Aleepore, 6^A. — All the foi-ce is assembled to-day 
save the Meerut portion, and they will be up to-night ; 
the heat is severe, but not unhealthy. The siege guns 
came in this morning, and the 2d European Bengal Fusi- 
leers, and we are all ready to move on. About 2,000 of 
the rebels have come out of Delhi, and put themselves 
in position to bar our road. Even your pride would be 
satisfied at the cry when I ride to the front or start on 
any little excursion. I think I am more than appreciated 
by the head-quarters' people. I had barely finished the 
word when I was sent for by the General, and had a 
pretty strong proof of the estimation I am held in. He 



244 DELHI. 

had been urged to one particular point of attack ; and 
when I went into the tent, he immediately turned to the 
assembled council, and said, "I have always trusted to 
Hodson's intelligence, and have the greatest confidence 
in his judgment. I will be guided by what he can tell 
me now." So the croakers, who had been groaning, 
were discomfited. This is of course for your own eye 
and ear alone, but it is pleasant, as the General has only 
known me since he has now joined the force.* 

Aleepore, June 1th. — I have little to do with the 
"Jheend Rajah's troops," further than that I am em- 
powered to demand as many as I want, and whenever 
I want them. I have twenty-five men on constant duty 
with me, and to-day have asked for double that number 
for extra duty ; beyond this, I have not, and do not wish 
to have, further to do with them. All Rohilcund is in 
mutiny. In fact, the district of Agra is the only one in 
the Northwest Provinces now under our control. What 
a terrible lesson on the evils of delay ! It will be long 
yet, I fear, ere this business is over. Oh for Sir Henry 
Lawrence ! Yet personally I have no reason to com- 
plain. 

Camp, Delhi, June 8<A, 1857. — Hei'e we are safe 
and sound, after having driven the enemy out of their 
position in the cantonments up to and into the walls of 
Delhi ! I write a line in pencil on the top of a drum to 
say that I am mercifully untouched, and none the worse 
for a very hard morning's work. Our loss has been con- 
siderable, the rebels having been driven from their guns 
at the point of the bayonet. Poor Colonel Chester killed 

* I am told that, one day aboiit this time, General Barnard said at 
the council table, " We must have our best man to lead that column ; 
— Hodson, will you take it? " — Ed. 



KILLED AND WOUNDED. 245 

at the first fire. Alfred Light (who won the admiration 
of all) wounded, but not severely. No one else of the 
staff party killed or wounded ; but our general returns 
will, I fear, tell a sad tale. Greville slightly hurt. The 
enemy's guns captured, and their dispersion and rout 
very complete. God has been very good to me. May 
His gracious protection still be shown ! 



CHAPTER 11. 



SIEGE OF DELHI. 



Camp before Dki^hi, June 9ih. 
I WROTE you a few hurried lines on the field of battle 
yesterday, to say that we had beaten the enemy, and 
driven them back five miles into Delhi. How grateful 
rest was after such a morning ! The Guides came in to- 
day, and it would have done your heart good to see the 
welcome they gave me — cheering and shouting and 
crowding round me like frantic creatures. They seized 
my bridle, dress, hands, and feet, and literally threw 
themselves down before the horse with the tears stream- 
ing down their faces. Many officers who were present 
hardly knew what to make of it, and thought the crea- 
tures were mobbing me; and so they were, — but for joy, 
not for mischief.* All the staff were witnesses of this, 
and Colonel Becher says their reception of me was quite 
enough to contradict all the reports of my unpopularity f 
with the regiment. There is terrible confusion all along 
the road, and we can only get the daks carried at all by 
bribery, stage by stage. 

* One of the officers who witnessed this scene told me that the ex- 
clamation of the men on meeting him was, " Burra Lerai-wallah," ov 
Great in battle. — Ed. 

t This had been one of the iinfounded charges against him two 
Tears before. 



ENTHUSIASM OF (GUIDES. 247 

June 10th. — When I hastily closed my letter yester- 
day, I hoped to be able to write a long one for to-day's 
dak, and to have had some hours' quiet to myself; but 
before the post had well started, our troops Avere again 
under arms, the mutineers having thought proper to at- 
tack our position ; consequently I was on horseback the 
whole day, and thankful to get at night a mouthful of 
food and a little rest. I had command of all the troops 
on our right, the gallant Guides among the rest. They 
followed me with a cheer for their old commander, and 
behaved with their usual pluck ; but I grieve deeply to 
say that poor Quintin Battye was mortally wounded. 
He behaved most nobly, Daly tells me, leading his men 
like a hero. Poor Khan Singh Rosah, who had come 
down from the Punjaub to join me only the same morn- 
ing, was badly shot through the shoulder. Indeed, I did 
not expose myself unnecessarily, for, having to direct the 
movements of three or four regiments, I could not be in 
the front as much as I wished. God has mercifully pre- 
served me, and I humbly pray will continue His gracious 
care. The warmth of the reception again given me by 
the Guides was quite aflPecting, and has produced a great 
sensation in camp, and had a good effect on our native 
troops, insomuch that they ai'e more willing to obey their 
European officers when they see their own countrymen's 
enthusiasm. Numbers of the men want to come and 
join my new regiment, — in fact, the largest proportion 
of the cavalry ; but of course I cannot take them now, 
nor until this business is over. I am wonderfully well, 
and only a little anxious about the hill stations, though I 
have full confidence in Lord William Hay's management. 
There is not much sickness in camp, though many 
wounded, and there will be many more, I fear, before 



248 ENCOURAGEMEISIT OF SOLDIERS. 

we get into Delhi. We have been fortunate in the 
weather hitherto. 

The enemy are at least four or five times our strength, 
and their numbers tell when we come near them, despite 
their want of discipline. They are splendid artillery-men, 
however, and actually beat ours in accuracy of fire. 

Light works on magnificently, despite a severe and 
painful wound in the head. I was very nearly coming 
to grief once this morning, for the sabre I thought such 
a good one went the first blow, and the blade flew out of 
the handle the second, the handle itself breaking in two. 
I had to borrow a sword from a horse artillery-man for 
the remainder of the day. 

The Jheend men with me fought like excellent soldiers. 
The good General came up when it was over and shook 
hands with me, and then with the men nearest. Their 
Rajah has given the native officer a pair of gold bangles, 
and doubled his pay. This is the way to encourage sol- 
diers, European as well as native : reward them, if but 
with thanks, on the spot. 

Colonel Thomas Seaton is at Rohtuck, in command of 
the 60th Native Infantry. How much longer they will 
refrain from mutiny one cannot say ; certainly not long ; 
though if any man can keep them steady, Seaton will. I 
hear some 300 or 400 men are ready for me ; a few have 
already arrived with Khan Singh. Meantime my posi- 
tion is Assistant Quartermaster- General on the Com- 
mander-in-Chief's personal staff. I am responsible for 
the Intelligence Department, and in the field, or when 
anything is going on, for directing the movements of the 
troops in action, under the immediate orders of the Gen- 
eral; I have no other master, and he listens to my sug- 
gestions most readily. Charlie Thomason is here, work- 



ATTACK ON OUR OUTPOSTS. 249 

ing away as an engineei'. Macdowell is well and merry, 
and much gratified at my having asked for him. 

June \Aih. — We were roused up thi'ee times during 
the night, and I have been deep in business with the 
General all the morning. I was also interrupted by the 
mournful task of carrying poor Battye to his grave ; the 
brave boy died last night, with a smile on his lip, and a 
Latin quotation on his tongue, " Dulce et decorum est 
pro pati-ia mori." Poor fellow ! he had quite won my 
heart by his courage and amiable qualities, and it is very, 
very sad, his early death. It was a noble one, however, 
and worthy of a soldier. We have just been excited in 
camp by the hasty arrival of Colonel Seaton and the offi- 
cers of the late 60th Native Infantry, which mutinied 
yesterday, and, spite of all Seaton could do, they fired on 
their officers, who, however, all escaped and came into 
camp safe, after a ride of fifty miles. Seaton is with me, 
looking terribly worn and harassed, but he says quite well 
in health, though disgusted enough. Dr. Coghlan (75th 
Regiment) died of cholera last night, but, thank God ! 
there are no other cases in camp. I am much vexed at 
the Lahore Chronicle "butter," and wish people would 
leave me alone in the newspapers. The best " butter " I 
get is the deference and respect I meet with from all 
whose respect I care for, and the affectionate enthusiasm 
of the Guides, which increases instead of lessening. 

June 12th. — We were turned out early this morning 
by an attack on our outposts and position generally by 
the rebel army. A sharp fight ensued, which lasted some 
four hours. The enemy came on very boldly, and had 
got close to us, under cover of the trees and gardens, 
before they were seen ; however, the troops turned out 
sharp, and drove them back quickly frpm our immediate 
11* 



250 PROJECT OF ATTACK. 

vicinity ; they were then followed up, and got most heart- 
ily thrashed. They have never yet been so punished as 
to-day. I estimate their loss in killed alone at 400, while 
our loss was comparatively trifling. The Guides behaved 
admirably, so did the Fusileers, as usual. Jacob's wing 
was the admiration of all ; one officer (Captain Knox, 
75th) was killed, and one or two wounded, I do not know 
how many European soldiers ; but on the whole the affair 
was a very creditable one. I am safe and sound still, 
and again have to thank the Almighty for my preserva- 
tion. 

Yesterday, I was ordered by the Genei'al to assist 
Greathed, and one or two more engineers, in forming 
a project of attack, and how we would do to take Delhi. 
We drew up our scheme and gave it to the General, who 
highly approved, and will, I trust, carry it out ; but how 
times must be changed, when four subalterns are called 
upon to suggest a means of carrying out so vitally im- 
portant an enterprise as this, one on which the safety of 
the Empire depends ! Wilberforce Greathed is next 
senior engineer to Laughton. Chesney is Major of the 
Engineer Brigade, and Maunsell commands the Sappers, 
so they had official claims to be consulted. 

I was added, because the General complimentarily told 
me he had the utmost value for my opinion, and though 
I am known to counsel vigorous measures, it is equally 
well known I do not urge others to do what I would not 
be the first to do myself. It is a much more serious busi- 
ness than was at first anticipated. Delhi is a veiy strong 
place, and the vast resources which the possession of our 
arsenal has given the mutineers, has made the matter a 
difficult one to deal with, except by the boldest measures ; 
the city should be carried by a coup-de-main, and that at 



SIEGE OF DELHI. 251 

once, or we may be many weeks before Delhi, instead of 
within it. All is safe at Agra, and the 3d Europeans 
are quietly under cover. A large party of us have just 
been listening to a letter from Lord W. Hay, in which he 
speaks in the highest terms of the conduct of some of 
the ladies at Simla, and says that the sense and courage 
exhibited by one or two of them has given a severe les- 
son to those who ought to know better than to require it 
from the weaker sex. 

June 13fh. — We were to have taken Delhi by assault 
last night, but a " mistake of orders," (?) as to the right 
time of bringing the troops to the rendezvous, prevented 
its execution. I am much annoyed and disappointed at 
our plan not having been carried out, because I am con- 
fident it would have been successful. The rebels were 
cowed, and perfectly ignorant of any intention of so bold 
a stroke on our part as an assault; the surpnse would 
have done everything. I am very vexed, though the 
General is most kind and considerate in trying to soothe 
my disappointment, — too kind, indeed, or he would not 
so readily have pardoned those whose fault it is that we 
are still outside Delhi. 

June 14th. — There was another smart engagement last 
night, the 60th Native Infantry having thought fit to sig- 
nalize their arrival at Delhi by an attack upon our posi- 
tion ; they suffered for it, as usual, but also, as usual, we 
lost several good men whom, God knows, we can ill spare. 
Mr. Kennedy was wounded, and a Subadar and some men 
of the Guides killed. I was not very much under fire, 
though I had to run the gantlet now and then of a rain 
of shot and shells with which the rebels belabored us. 
Our artillery officers themselves say that they are out- 
matched by these rascals in accuracy and rapidity of fire ; 



2')2 ANXIETY ABOUT SIMLA. 

and as they have unlimited supplies of guns and ammu- 
nition from our own greatest arsenal, they are quite be- 
yond us in many respects. I am just returned from a 
long ride to look after a party of plunderers from the 
city, who had gone round our flank ; I disposed of a few. 

June 15th. — I have had a night and day of great 
anxiety, owing to fresh rumors of an outbreak at Simla. 
I have much confidence in Lord W. Hay's judgment 
and management of the natives, but this would not be 
sufficient, were the station once attacked. The dak, 
however, has arrived, and quieted our apprehensions. 
There was a sharp fight again this morning, which lasted 
some hours ; our loss was not great, but every man is a 
loss. Our project for the assault is still approved of and 
entertained, but put off from day to day, till it will be too 
late. It is now noon, and I have been out since day- 
break, and must get breakfast. 

June IGth. — Everybody here is infinitely disgusted at 
learning the truth about the report of a riot at Simla, 
and the opinion is universal that ought to be re- 
moved. Neville Chamberlain is Adjutant- General of 
the army, and Pat Grant Commander-in-Chief. I do 
not think either of them will approve of any " soldier " 
showing his prowess in fighting helpless women and chil- 
dren, or of one whose only courage is exhibited on a 
peaceful parade, or when an unfortunate subaltern is to 
be bullied. The weather is intense to-day, and I am 
uncomfortable from having caught a heavy cold, but it 
will soon go oflP, I dare say. I mentioned that four of us 
had been ordered to prepare a project of attack, and that 
we had suggested and arranged a bold but perfectly feasi- 
ble coup-de-main ; it w^as approved and ordered, but in 
consequence of 's not bringing up his troops, was 



PLAN ABANDONED. 253 

forced to be abandoned ; it has again been ordered, coun- 
termanded, and finally abandoned. A council of war sat 
yesterday, and resolved to wait for reinforcements ! ! our 
scheme, however, is on recoi'd, and our names attached. 
General Barnard told me yesterday he wished I was a 
captain, for he would pledge himself to get me a major- 
ity for what I had already done ; he thought he " might 
safely promise that at least." But, alas ! I am not a 
ca})tain. 

June l^th. — I was not able to write yesterday, for the 
cold I mentioned as having caught in common with many 
others in camp, turned into a sharp attack of bronchitis, 
or inflammation on the chest, and I was really very ill 
for some hours. To-day I am thankful to say I am much 
better, though very weak ; the inflammation has disap- 
peared, and I hope to be on my horse again to-morrow, in 
spite of all the doctor says. Every one is very kind, the 
General pai'ticularly so ; he insists on having me in his 
own tent, as being so much larger than my own, and he 
takes the most fatherly care of me. I can see no reason 
strong enough to induce me to consent to any ladies com- 
ing to camp ; it is true that a Captain , who with his 

wife escaped from Delhi to Umbala, has dragged the un- 
fortunate woman back here again, though expecting her 
confinement, and with not a shadow of comfort or shelter, 

except a tent. Even Mrs. ,* and all the others of 

her sex, have been sent back to Meerut; they never 
ought to have been allowed to come with us ; the greate.^^t 
consolation to us here is the thought that those dearest to 
us are in safety, and free from the heat and dangers and 
annoyances of our life here. Poor Brown was badly 
wounded last night in the shoulder. I much fear that 
* A Persian lady. 



254 GENERAL BARNARD'S KINDNESS. 

Dr. Hay has been murdered at Bareilly ; his name is 
among the missing, and scarcely a hope remains. 

June l^th. — I am up and dressed, and crawling about 
a little to-day, but much weaker than I fancied, and dizzy 
with quinine, and vexed at being useless at such a time. 
The General nurses me as if I were his son. I woke in 
the night, and found the kind old man by my bedside, 
covering me carefully up from the draught. The delay 
and absolute want of progress here is very disheartening. 
There have been repeated attacks upon us ; all of course 
with the same result, (but, for that matter, we are as 
nearly besieged as the rebels themselves are,) and we 
lose valuable lives in every encounter, the sum total of 
which would swell the catalogue to the dimensions of that 
of a general engagement. Our plan of carrying the city 
by a cowp-de-main was frustrated the first niglit by the 

fears and absolute disobedience of orders of , the 

man who first lost Delhi, and has now by folly prevent- 
ed its being recaptured. The General has twice since 
wished and even ordered it, but has always been thwart- 
ed by some one or other ; latterly by that old woman 

, who has come here for nothing, apparently, but as 

an obstacle ; is also a crying evil to us. The Gen- 
eral knows this, and wants to get rid of him, but has not 
the nerve to supersede him ; the whole state of affairs 
here is bad to a degree ; it is true we always thrash the 
fellows when we can get at them, for they are contempti- 
ble as an enemy in the open field, being formidable in 
numbers only ; but the immense resources placed in their 
hands, by the possession of our magazine and arsenal, in- 
side a walled and fortified town, make it very difficult for 
an army, unless provided with a proper siege equipment 
and engineer park, to drive them out in orthodox fashion : 



MURDER OF EUROPEANS IN CHURCH. 20.5 

we have certainly plenty of guns, but we have not men to 

work them ; and of the latter, thanks to , we liave 

absolutely nothing, so we do nothing but fire away long 
shots at the distance of a mile, and repel the enemy's 
attacks ; instead of which we ought to have had our bat- 
teries close up to the walls, and been through them, days 
ago. It was from the conviction that we had no regular 
means of reducing the place by the fire of our artillery, 
and at the distance we now are from the walls, and that 
it was vain to expect our commandant of artillery to 
attempt any bolder stroke than ordinary with the few 
guns for which he had hands, which induced me to press 
the capture of the place by assault, blowing open the 
gates with powder bags, and rushing in with the bayonet. 
All was arranged, and under Providence I venture to 
believe success was certain, but as I say, all was frus- 
trated by terror and disobedience. I fear now nothing 
can be done for many days, and until other troops arrive ; 
meanwhile the evil is spreading, and disaffection, to use a 
mild term, increasing. I fear there is no room to doubt 
that Dr. Hay is dead ; he was actually hung, with other 
civilians, in the mai'ket-place at Bareilly, after going 
through a mock form of trial. All the Europeans at 
Shahjehanpoor have, we hear, been murdered while they 
were in church, at the same moment, as nearly as possible, 
that the Bareilly tragedy was going on. 

June 20th. — I am much better to-day, but still very 
weak, yet work I must. There was a sharp fight again 
last evening. The enemy came down and attacked our 
rear, and a sharp conflict ensued between some 2,000 
Sepoys with six guns, and 300 Europeans with one 
gun. The result was as usual, but two events occurred 
which were important for me. Colonel Becher was 



256 COMMAND OF GUIDES RESUMED. 

shot through the right arm, and Captain Daly badly Iiil 
througli the shoulder. 

The consequence is, that I have in effect to see to the 
whole work of the Quartermaster- General of the army ; 
and in addition, the General has begged me as a personal 
favor to take command of the Guides until Daly has 
recovered. I at first refused, but the General was most 
urgent, putting it on the ground that the service was at 
stake, and none was so fit, &c. &c. I do feel that we are 
bound to do our best just now to put things on a proper 
footing, and after consulting Seaton and Norman, I ac- 
cepted the command. How will gnash his teeth to 

see me leading my dear old Guides again in the field. 
If I can but keep it till Delhi is taken I shall be satisfied, 
for I think I shall be able to do something towards so 
favorable a result. Shebbeare was appointed second in 
command at my request. He is an excellent soldier. 
General Barnard * has written most strongly in my 
favor, and has voluntarily pledged himself to get me my 
majority as soon as ever I am a captain. I confess I feel 
a little proud at being earnestly requested to take again 

* From Major- General, Sir H. Barnard, Commanding Field Force, 
to the Adjutant-General, of the Army. 

" Camp, Delhi, June leth, 1857. 
" Sir, — While inclosing for the information of the Commander-in- 
Chief the reports of the late attack made by the enemy on the force 
under my command, I would wish to bring to his notice the assistance 
I have received in every way from the services of Lieut. W. S. Hod- 
son, 1st Bengal European Fusileers. 

" Since the arrival of his regiment at Umbala, up to the present 
date, his untiring energy and perpetual anxiety to assist me in any 
way in which his services might be found useful, have distinguished 
him througho^^t, and are now my reasons for bringing this officer thus 
specially to the notice of the Commander-in-Chief. 

(Signed) " H. M. Barnard, 

" Major-General.'''' 



RECOVERY FROM ILLNESS. 257 

the command of which the machinations of my enemies 
had deprived me. Our loss altogether last night was not 
more than 50 killed and wounded ; we took two guns ; — 
enemy's loss about 500. 

June list. — I have been on horseback to-day for the 
first time since this attack of illness, so I may be consid- 
ered finally recovered, only I still feel considerable weak- 
ness. It is veiy annoying not to be quite up to the mark 
in these stirring times, especially when so much work has 
fallen to my lot. I am fortunate, however, in not being, 
like many of our poor fellows, laid up with w"ounds and 
serious ailments. God has been very good to me, and in 
nothing more so than in preserving what is most precious 
to me from the horrible danger and suffering of so many 
of our poor countrywomen and children. How thankful 
I am now that Reginald exchanged into an European 
corps. I never see any of these unhappy refugees, as we 
call the poor officers whose regiments have mutinied, 
wandering about the camp, without uttering a mental 
thanksgiving that he is safe from that at least. I feel 
more strongly every hour that I should not have been 
justified in refusing the command of the Guides under 
present circumstances. We are, in point of fact, reduced 
to merely holding our own ground till we get more men. 
The drain on our resources has been enormous, while 
those of the enemy have proved so much greater, both 
in men, ammunition, and strength of position, than we 
expected, and they have fought us so much more perse- 
veringly than was deemed possible, that it has become 
imperatively necessary to be stronger before striking the 
final blow. The plan for carrying the city * by assault, 

* Extract of a Pnvate Letter from Camp to Lord W. Hay. 
" Hodson volunteered to lead the assault on the night of the 11th, 



258 RISING IN ROHILCUND. 

which I feel convinced would then have been successful, 
has now become impracticable. The enemy are stronger, 
we are weaker ; besides that, they would be prepared for 
any coup-de-main now. General Johnstone is to be here 
by the 23d, we hope with considerable reinforcements, 
and more will follow. I trust that a few days then will 
end this business, as far as Delhi is concerned, and so 
enable a part, at least, of the force to move on towards 
AUygurh, and reopen the roads and daks, and restore 
oi'der for the time ; but when the end will be, who can 
say? 

The rising in Rohilcund will, I fear, assume formidable 
proportions and give us much trouble, as I think we 
shall scarcely be able to do anything there before the 
cold weather. There is, in fact, every prospect of a long 
and tedious campaign. May God's wisdom direct and 
His mercy defend us ! 

June 226?. — The hottest day we have had yet ; but 
while I know that the hill stations are quiet, I can bear 
anything with equanimity. The rumors down here, of 
all that has been doing and feared at Simla, have been 
enough to unnerve any one who does not know the truth. 
Lord W. Hay's judgment and energy deserve every 
praise. Personally, I cannot but feel gratified at the 
marked pleasure all hands, high and low, have shown at 
my renewed command of the Guides. All congratulate 

but the plan unfortunately was not adopted; a small building in front 
of the gate, which he had fixed on as the rendezvous, is called 'Hod- 
son's Mosque.' It would probably have been his tomb, for few of the 
devoted band would have escaped, though the city would have been 
ours." 

A private letter from Camp of the 10th June, says, "Hodson, of the 
1st Fusileers, and old Showers are admitted to be the best officers in 
the field." 



ENGLISH SOLDIERS' PLUCK. 259 

me as if they were personally interested ; and as to the 
men themselves, their vociferous, and I really believe 
honest, delight is quite overpowering. The wounded 
generally are doing well, poor fellows, considering the 
heat, dirt, and want of any bed but the dry ground. 
Their pluck is wonderful, and it is not in the field alone 
that you see what an English soldier is made of. One 
poor fellow who was smoking his jyipe and laughing with 
the comrade by his side, was asked, what was the matter 
with him, and he answered in a lively voice, " Oh, not 
much, sir, only a little knock on the back ; I shall be up 
and at the rascals again in a day or two." He had been 
shot in the spine, and all his lower limbs were paralyzed. 
He died next day. Colonel Welchman * is about again ; 
too soon, I fear, but there is no keeping the brave old 
man quiet. Poor Peter Brown * is very badly wounded, 
but he is cheerful, and bears up bravely. Jacob * has 
" come out " wonderfully. He is cool, active, and bold, 
keeps his wits about him under fire, and does altogether 
well. We are fortunate in having him with the force. 
Good field-officers are very scarce indeed ; I do not won- 
der at people at a distance bewailing the delay in the 
taking of Delhi. No one not on the spot can appreciate 
the difficulties in the way, or the painful truth that those 
difficulties increase upon us. The very large reinforce- 
ments which the enemy are receiving, (the whole Bareilly 
and Rohilcund force, some 5,000 men, are on their wny 
to join,) more than counterbalance the aid which can 
reach us, so that when the last party arrives the odds 
will still be immensely against us. It would not so much 
signify if we could but get them into the open field, but 
for every gun we can bring to bear upon them they can 
* 1st European Bengal Fusileers. 



260 CONFIDENT OF SUCCESS. 

bring four heavier ones against us. We drive them be- 
fore us like chaff in the tield, but they can and do attack 
us in two or three quarters at once, and our unfortunate 
soldiers are worked off their legs. I do not say this to 
make matters look gloomy, for I am as confident as ever 
of the result ; but we may be a long while yet, and a 
weary while too, before that result is arrived at. Baird 
Smith will be here as Chief Engineer in a day or two, 
and if we can manage to get some batteries made sud- 
denly, we may carry the city shortly ; but there are great 
obstacles. I regret more than ever that the assault was 
not made on the night of the 11th, when they were un- 
prepared for us, and so much fewer in numbers. Now 
they increase daily, and the city is so overflowing, that 
the rascals are encamped outside the gates under cover 
of their formidable batteries, and in the glacis ; so much 
for giving our arsenal into native keeping. AU is well at 
Agra ; beyond that, we know nothing. 

June 23d. — The rebels came out again this morning 
in considerable force, with the avowed intention of attack- 
ing us on all sides. They have been frustrated, however, 
save on one point, and firing is still going on. They do 
little more than annoy us, and the only great evil they 
cause, is the keeping our men out for hours in this scorch- 
ing heat. The worst of all is, that we can do but little 
harm to them, as they are well under cover. The rascals 
most forward to-day are the Jullundur troops, who ought 
never to have been allowed to join the king of the rebels 
here at Delhi ; why they were not pursued and cut up, is 
at present a mystery, but indignation is sti'ong in camp 
against those who suffered their escape. 

General Johnstone has met with a serious accident at 
Paneeput, I hear ; most unfortunate indeed. 



SUBJECT FOR A SKETCH. 261 

June 23d, — An amusing story is told a propos of the 
fight this morning. A rascally Pandy, thinking all was 
over, put his head out of the window of one of the houses, 
in the shade of which a few Europeans and Goorkhas 
were resting. One of the latter jumped up, laid hold of 
the rebel by his hair, and with one chop of his " kookrie " 
took off his head. Atkinson should make a sketch of 
this for the Illustrated Neios. Sarel, of the 9th Lancers, 
came in this morning, in an incredibly short space of 
time, from his shooting expedition in the interior, ten 
days' journey beyond Simla. He reports all quiet there, 
thank God ! I am sadly weak, I find, and have been 
obliged to change my work from the saddle to the pen 
more than once to-day. This want of physical strength 
depresses me. It is a burden to me to stand or walk, and 
the excessive heat makes it difficult for me to recover 
from that sharp attack of illness. The doctors urge me 
to go away for a little to get strength, — as if I could 
leave just now, or as if I would if I could. 

June 24:th. — I have been in the saddle nearly all day, 
though obliged occasionally to rest a bit when I could 
find shelter. One of my halts was by the side of Alfred 
Light, who has behaved magnificently under trial and 
difficulty. It does me good to see the " Light of the ball- 
room " working away at his guns, begrimed with dust and 
heat, ever cheery and cool, though dead beat from fatigue 
and exposure. He is one of a thousand, and a host in 
himself. 

The enemy turned us out very early, and the firing 
continued without intermission till dark, and such a day ; 
liquid fire was no name for the fervent heat. Colonel 
Welchman got an ugly wound in the arm, and Dennis 
was knocked down by the sun, and numbers of the men ; 



262 NEVILLE CHAMBERLAIN. 

but nothing less than a knock-down blow from sun, sword, 
or bullet, stops a British soldier. How well they fought 
to-day ; and to do them justice, so did my old Guides and 
my new Sikhs, while the little Goorkhas vied with any in 
endurance and courage ; but the mismanagement of mat- 
ters is perfectly sickening. Nothing the rebels can do 
will equal the evils arising from incapacity and inde- 
cision. 

Fortunately, Neville Chamberlain has arrived, and he 
ought to be worth a thousand men to us. I can but re- 
member when Lord Dalhousie gave me the command 
of the Guides, how anxious he was for me to exchange 
it with him for the Military Secretaryship at Lahore. 
Spite of all, I can never regret not having yielded, for I 
feel that these two years of persecution and suffering 
have been of service to me. I can truly say, it is good 
for me to have been afflicted, and I am conscious of be- 
ing more fitted either for the Victoria Cross or the sol- 
dier's grave ! I do not think either that Chamberlain 
bears me any ill-will, rather the contrary ; but did he do 
so, I would lose anything personally, for the sake of hav- 
ing his influence predominant at head-quarters. I am 
neither downhearted nor desponding when I say that 
with our present chiefs I see no chance of taking Delhi. 
It might have been done many days ago, (certes, it was 
not for want of a distinct plan being before them or a 
willing leader,) but they have not the nerve nor the heart 
for a bold sti'oke requiring the smallest assumption of re- 
sponsibility. Horses are veiy scarce here, and I have the 
greatest difficulty in getting my own men mounted. Mr. 
Montgomery is helping me wonderfully with men, and I 
receive offers for service daily, but in these mutinous 
times it is necessary to be cautious. A telegraph from 



LOSS OF OFFICERS AND MEN. 263 

Agra says, " Heavy firing at Cawnpore : result not 
known." 

June 26th. — There is little doing to-day, save a vain 
fire of long shots, and I fear nothing effective will be 
done till the 8th and 61st arrive. I hope much from 
Chamberlain. The General, though one of the kindest 
and best of men, has neither health nor nerve enough for 
so responsible, and really very difficult, a position as that 
he is now in. Our loss in officers and men bears a sadly 
large proportion to our successes. In the 1st Fusileers it 
is, too, melancholy : Colonel Welchman with a very bad 
hit in the arm, in addition to his sickness when he came 
to Delhi from Dugshai ; Greville down with fever ; Wri- 
ford with dysentery ; Dennis with sunstroke ; Brown 
with wounds. Jacob and the " boys " have all the work 
to themselves, and well indeed do the boys behave, with 
a courage and coolness that would not disgrace veterans. 
Little Tommy Butler, Owen, Warner, all behave like 
heroes, albeit with sadly diminishing numbers to lead. I 
am vexed at the mistakes or falsehoods of the newspaper 
reports. So far from having been wounded in the fight 
of the 19th, I was not even present, but ill in bed. When 
Colonel Becher came into camp wounded, I got up and 
struggled into the saddle, and tried to get far enough to 
send up fresh troops ; but I had not got ten yards before 
I fell from my horse, and was all but carried back to my 
tent again. 

I am more and more convinced that I was right not to 
persist in my refusal to take again the command of the 
Guides. It was so pressed on me, and surely the best 
eradication of the reproach of removal was the being 
asked to reassume it in times of difficulty and danger 
like these. 



264 REPORT OF A SPY. 

That this is the general view of the case is shown by 
the warm and hearty congratulations I meet with on all 
sides. There is but one rule of action for a soldier in 
the field, as for a man at all times : to do that which is 
best for the public good ; to make that your sole aim, 
resting assured that the result will in the end be best 
for individual interest also. I am quite indifferent not to 
see my name appear in newspaper paragraphs and de- 
spatches ; only content if I can perform my duty truly 
and honestly, and too thankful to the Almighty if I am 
daily spared for future labors or future repose. 

The story prevalent in the hills, that 7,000 of the 
enemy are pitched in the open plain, is a mere magnifi- 
cation of the simple fact, that a surplus portion of the 
rebels have encamped under cover of their guns, and 
close up under the wall of the city, and remain there all 
night, but this is on the side opposite us. We are not 
very well o9^, qicant a la cuisine. I never had so much 
trouble in getting anything fit to eat, except when I dine 
with the General. Colonel Seaton * lives in my tent, 
and is a great companion ; his joyous disposition is a per- 
petual rebuke to the croakers. Don't believe what is 
said about our batteries doing no harm. The same was 
said of Muttra, yet, when we entered, scarcely a square 
yard was unploughed by our shot. One of the native 
officers of the Guides (you know how ingenious they are 
at disguise) got into the city as a spy, and remained 
there four days. He reports great dissension and quar- 
relling among themselves. Robbery and fighting and 
everything that is bad, between the newly arrived rebels 
and the city people. This account my own native news- 
letters confirm. The 9th Native Infantry had already 
.* Sir Thomas Seaton, K. C. B. 



ANOTHER ATTACK. 265 

decamped, and thousands would follow if they dared. 
This last, I doubt ; the spirit of bravado, if not of bra- 
very, is as yet too strong. The rascals in the last en- 
gagement came out in their red coats and medals ! 

June 2^th. — I have been so hard at work the whole 
day, that I can only find time to say the enemy has made 
no sortie to-day, but Pandy amuses himself with firing 
long shots incessantly ; all well, however. 

2'lth. — We were turned out before I had hardly 
turned in, by another attack of the rebels. This time a 
faint one, which has been already repulsed with trifling 
loss on our side. For a short time, however, the can- 
nonade was very heavy, and I have seldom been under a 
hotter fire than for about three quarters of an hour at our 
most advanced battery, covered every moment with show- 
ers, or rather clouds, of dust, stones, and splinters ; but 
we kept close, and no one was hurt. There has been an 

outcry throughout camp at 's having fled from Bhag- 

put, the bridge which caused me so much hard riding 
and hard work to get, some time ago, A report came 
that a portion of the mutineers were moving in that direc- 
tion, and he fairly bolted, leaving boats, bi'idge, and all ! 
Yet he had with him all the Rajah of Jheend's men, 
horse, foot, and guns, and never even saw the twinkle of 
a musket. In fact, it is not at all sure that an enemy 
was ever near him. By this conduct he has not only cut 
us off from all communication with Meerut, but actually 
left the boats to be used or destroyed by the enemy. 
Our reinforcements are in sight, at least the camp of the 
8th, and I do trust no further delay will take place in our 
getting possession of Delhi. The insurgents are dis- 
heartened, and I have no doubt but that the moment we 
get possession of a single gate the greater portion of them 

12 



266 EIDE TO BHAGPUT. 

will run out through the opposite ones. The only for- 
midable part of the enemy is their artillery, which is 
amazingly well-served, and in prodigious abundance, as 
my experience this morning abundantly proved. Har- 
ris, of the 2d European Bengal Fusileers, was wounded 
this morning, but not dangerously. All quiet at Agra, 
we believe, but no particulars known. 

June 28th. — I have just got orders to proceed to 
Bhagput, some twenty-five miles off, on the Jumna, and 
see what the real state of affairs is, and try to save the 
boats, so I have only time to say I am much better and 
stronger, which is a great comfort, for I could not have 
ridden the distance, a few days ago. The rains have be- 
gun, and the air is colder and more refreshing, though 
not exactly what one could wish. Certainly the hot sea- 
son in India is not the pleasantest time in the year for 
campaigning, and this the rascally mutineers were fully 
aware of before they began. Colonel Greathed and the 
8th came in this morning, and the 61st will be here to- 
morrow. 

June 29th. — I was thirteen hours and a half in the 
saddle without intermission yesterday, and got back to 
camp after midnight, very tired, but none the worse; 
fortunately, I had a cloudy day and a tolerably cool 
breeze for my work. I recovered the boats and found 

all quiet, in spite of 's disgraceful flight. He had 

not even the sense or courage to draw the boats over to 
our side of the river, consequently, three were burnt and 
the whole place plundered. So much for acting on 
native reports, without at least attempting to ascertain 
their accuracy. The consequences are bad and discredit- 
able to a degree. 

I doubt whether General Barnard used the exact ex- 



REPORTS UNRELIABLE. 267 

pression reported regarding Tombs, but he did say, and 
well he might, that he was as gallant and good a soldier 
as any in camp, and so indeed he is. 

The fight of the 23d was a much more severe one than 
was reported. It was not over till dark, and our loss 
was the heaviest we have yet had to deplore, since we 
got here on the 8th. 

Reports must not be depended on. The fact was, 
Major Olpherts arrived early in the morning. I myself 
galloped out to meet him, and as he passed, when the 
fight had just commenced, he fired once at the enemy, and 
then came into camp to rest his men after their long 
march. We were out the whole day until dark, and half 
dead with fatigue. Colonel Welchman suffers severely 
from his wound, but bears it bravely, as does Peter 
Brown. 

Everything quiet to-day, no firing on either side. I 
do hope this part of the business will soon be over, and 
that they will only wait for the 61st and Coke's regiment, 
both of which will be here to-morrow or next day. Col- 
onel Seaton himself recommended the disarming of his 
old Corps, the 35th Native Infantry. To-day we hear it 
has been done. All was safe at Cawnpore and Lucknow 
up to our last news. 

July 2d. — I have been quite unable to write since the 
29th, on the night of which I was ordered ofi^ again to 
Bhagput, to try to bring the boats down to camp, either 
to make a bridge here or a " stop " for the enemy. The 
order was given with the complimentary addenda from 
the General, " because I can tx-ust your judgment quite as 
much as your energy." I expected to be back in good 
time on the 30th, but the winds and waves were against 
me, and I could not get my fleet of boats down the river. 



2G8 PROGRESS OF REGIMENT. 

Shebbeare was with me, and we worked like a couple 
of " navvies," passing the two days and one night on the 
banks of the river, without shelter, and almost without 
food, for we had nothing but a couple of " chupatties," 
each, and a small tin of soup and a little tea, which I 
fortunately took with me. Poor Shebbeai'e would soon 
lose the graceful rotund of his figure if he were long on 
such short commons, but 1 do not think any amount of 
starvation could reduce my horizontal dimensions. 

All's well that ends well, however, and I succeeded in 
getting every boat safe into camp last night. I missed 
the skirmish of the 30th by being at Bhagput. The Gist 
have arrived, rich in tvv'enty officers. We are getting 
more supplies now, and I have set myself up with plates 
and dishes for the small charge of one rupee. Colonel 
Seaton's traps and servants will be here to-day, and then 
we shall be comfortable, for hitherto a very limited allow- 
ance for one has been but small accommoda^tion for two. 
For my new I'egiment two complete troops are on their 
way from Lahore and will be here on the 8th, and an- 
other troop from Jugraon should be here in a week. Two 
more troops are preparing at Lahore. 

Montgomery takes the most kind interest in my new 
Corps, and I am rejoiced and comforted to find that he 
cordially approves of my having accepted the Guides. I 
have as much confidence in his judgment as in his kind- 
ness. • has been shelved, and allowed to get " sick " . 

to save him from supersession. I do not like euphuisms. 
In these days men and things should be called by their 
right names, that we might know how far either should be 
trusted. 

Sir E. Campbell arrived here to-day by mail-cart, and 
will be a valuable addition to the 60th, or he will belie 



LOSS AMONG GUIDES. 2G9 

his descent from the Bourbons and Fitzgeralds. He is a 
man you can always trust, whicli is saying something in 
these hard times. 

July od. — Whatever I may have sacrificed of pride 
and personal feeling to a sense of duty, I shall be fully 
rewarded by entering Delhi at the head of the Guides. 
Here at least there is but one opinion on the subject. 
My poor gallant Guides ! they have suffered severely for 
their fidelity to our cause, above a fourth of the whole 
having been killed or wounded, including some of our 
l)est men. Koor Singh, the little Goorkha Subadar who 
won the Order of Merit in that stiff affair at Boree in 
'53, is gone, and others whom we could ill afford to lose, 
now that so much depends on the fidelity of the native 
officers, — the Guides more than all. Surely, then, I am 
right, knowing and feeling that my influence with them is 
so great, to sink every personal consideration before the 
one great end of public safety, which implies that of our- 
selves and those dear to us. If we fail here at Delhi, 
not a soul in the Punjaub or Upper Provinces would be 
safe for a day. 

July hill. — It was impossible for me to write by yes- 
terday's dak, for the rebels got into our rear during the 
night of the 3d, and attacked Alipoor, the first stage from 
hence on the Kurnal road. I was out reconnoitring, and 
saw them moving out some five miles on our right. I 
reported their position at 7 p. M. on the 3d, but not until 
3 A. M. of the 4th were any measures taken, by which 
time, of course, they had attained their end, and were 
in full march back to Delhi. At daybreak yesterday I 
pointed out their exact whereabouts to Coke, (who com- 
manded the party sent to attacli them,) and I did not get 
back to camp till 8 p. m. ; a hard day's work, especially 



270 CLOSE WORK. 

as I had no breakfast, nor indeed food of any kind, and 
hunger makes the heat tell. 

We beat 5,000 of the rebels in the morning, and were 
twice attacked by upwards of 3,000 in the course of the 
day. 1 took the Guides in pursuit (as soon as our guns 
had driven the enemy from their position), and drove 
them into a village. Unfortunately we did not do half as 
well as we ought, for though Coke is a good commandant 
of a regiment, and a good man for the frontiers, he is no 
general, and did not manage well, or we should have cut 
up numbers of the enemy and taken their guns. 

Our loss was about thirty or forty Europeans, and three 
of my native officers temporarily disabled. Both men 
and horses were terribly knocked up towards the end of 
the day, and could hardly crawl back to camp, and no 
wonder. I was mercifully preserved, though I am sorry 
to say my gallant " Feroza " was badly wounded twice 
with sabre cuts, and part of his bridle cut thi'ough, and 
a piece of my glove shaved off, so it was rather close 
work. My men, who were most engaged of all, escaped 
with the loss of one killed and six wounded, and six 
horses put hors de combat. I am dissatisfied with the 
day's work, inasmuch as more might have been done, and 
what was done is only satisfactory as a proof of the ease 
with which Anglo-Saxons can thrash Asiatics at any odds. 
Yesterday they were at least from ten to fifteen to one 
against us. To-day General Barnard has been attacked 
with cholera, I grieve to say ; and Colonel Welchman is 
very ill indeed. The doctors dread erysipelas, which at 
his age would be serious ; beyond this, the wounded are 
generally doing well. 

July 6th. — Poor General Barnard died last night, and 
was buried this morning. He sank rapidly, for anxiety, 



WANT OF DECISION. 271 

worry, over-exertion, and heat had prepared his system, 
and it was impossible for him to bear up against tlie viru- 
lence of cholera. Personally, I am much grieved, for no 
kinder or more considerate or more gentlemanly man 
ever lived. I am so sorry for his son, a fine brave fellow, 
whose attention to his father won the love of us all. It 
was quite beautiful to see them together. 

I have just seen a copy of a very strong minute anent 
the Bhtigput affair, which shows the General was not dis- 
posed to pass it over lightly. The civil authorities, how- 
ever, are determined to support , though in camp 

there is but one opinion of his conduct. The present 
state of things is terrible, enough to fret one to death, — 
no head, no brains, no decision. Neville Chamberlain, 
though of decided excellence as a man of action, is, I 
begin to fear, but a poor man of business. Prompt decis- 
ion in council is what we want ; there is no lack of 
vigorous action. There are plenty to obey ; but we want 
some one to command. We have seen nothing of the 
enemy outside the walls since the 4th. I am worked off 
my legs all the same, and the day is not half long enough 
for what I have to do. To make matters worse, too, poor 
Macdowell is down with fever : a sad loss just now to 
" Hodson's Horse," as they call my growing corps. I 
am sadly off for clothes, as we of course are only too 
glad to help the poor refugees who come into camp with 
none. 

July 8th. — We left camp at 2 A. m. with a considera- 
ble force, and marched to a bridge some ten miles off, 
which we blew up to prevent the enemy annoying us, 
and then marched back again. I tried hard to induce 
Chamberlain, who commanded, to march back by another 
road, which I had reconnoitred, and which would have 



272 RAINS. 

brought us close along the rear and flank of the enemy, 
but he would not do so, though admitting that I was right. 
We have had eleven hours in the saddle and in the sun, 
merely for this trifling gain. My face is like " General 
Gascoigne's," and my hands perfectly skinless. I must 
get some dogskin gloves, for it is as much as I can do 
to hold a sword, much less a pen. There has been no 
fighting since the 4th, and my news-writers from the 
city speak of much disheartenment, and symptoms of a 
break-up ; but I doubt this latter being more than a 
report, while the enemy are so well provided both with 
" materiel " and " personnel." ^ 

I have just returned from a long chase after a party 
of the enemy's horse, safe and unhurt, but drenched to 
the skin by a cataract of rain. There has been some 
hard fighting to-day. The 8th Irregulars from Bareilly 
came into our camp, thanks to the defection of a party 
of the 9th Irregular Cavalry, who were on picket duty. 
The rascals consequently were enabled to get into our 
very lines, and cut down one ofiicer at his guns. There 
was a tremendous row and confusion for a short time, but 
we soon put it to rights. I had warned the authorities 
repeatedly, that the Irregulars were not to be trusted, but 
they were too fainthearted or " merciful " (Heaven for- 
give me for using such a word about such villains) to dis- 
arm them, and both the regiments, about which I reported, 
have since gone wrong. 

July IQth. ■ — We are nearly flooded out of camp by 
the rain, and everything is wet and wretched but our- 
selves. I have no respite from work, however, and have 
only time to say that the ladies in the hills could not em- 
ploy themselves better or in a greater work of charity 
than in making flannel shirts for the soldiers, for our 



SAD JOKE. 273 

stores are either in the enemy's hands or not come-at- 
able. The soldiers bear up like men, but the constant 
state of wet is no small addition to what they have to 
endure from heat, hard work, and hard fighting. I 
know by experience what a comfort a dry flannel shirt 
is. 

There is a sad joke against me in camp, and I cannot 
help joining in the laugh against myself, though enraged 
at having been the victim of such a sell. Fancy my 
riding up to a party of horse, and asking who they were, 
being told they were our own men, 9 th Irregulars, and 
then marching parallel to them for three miles, and not 
three quarters of a mile apart, when, had I known who 
they were, I could have destroyed every man."* Mr. 
Saunders arrived in camp to-day, looking as fat and well 
as possible, though he and his pretty wife had a narrow 
escape and hard day's riding from Moradabad. 

July 11th. — Pen-work again all day, as the enemy 
seem to prefer keeping under cover from the rain. 

Mr. 's story is so far true, that I did earnestly 

urge the construction of a bridge with the boats I brought 
down from Bhagput, but without success. There are 
difficulties, I admit, and great ones, but I humbly think 
they might be overcome now, as they certainly could 
three weeks ago, when our plan of assault was suggested, 
and adopted by General Barnard. There is a sad outcry 
in camp against Chamberlain for having used his influ- 
ence to prevent the disarming of what remains of the 
9 th Irregulars. Numbers of them had deserted, and one 
native officer, and those who were on picket duty, actually 

* " They went into the city, and reported that they had defeated 
the gi-eat Lall Bahadoor (Red Warrior) and a large party of his horse, 
and were rewarded accordingly." — Letter from Camp. [Ed.] 
12 * 



274 HODSON'S HORSE. 

admitted a party of the enemy into our camp ; and yet, 
forsooth, because they were Cliamberlain's regiment once 
on a time, the order to disarm them, which the General 
had actually issued, was cancelled. I confess I expected 
better things than this weakness, when our very lives de- 
pend on firmness and decision. Light has just come in 
off duty, so begrimed with smoke and powder as scarcely 
to be distinguished even by his own men. He is admitted 
to be one of the best of our officers, and certainly one 
of the hardest working. Tombs always distinguishes 
himself. 

July 12th. — 300 of my new regiment have just 
arrived. 100 more left Lahore on the 7th, and 100 will 
be here very soon from the Sutlej. Mr. Montgomery 
has done me most essential service, as I could never by 
myself (with another regiment to command, and so much 
pen-work to do) have got so many men together ; and 
everything he does is so complete. He sends figured 
statements giving all details regarding men and horses, 
(these last are very difficult to get,) which will save me 
much time and labor hereafter. He has been really 
most kind, and has, moreover, during this troublous time, 
evinced an energy, decision, and vigor for which I believe 
the world hardly gave him credit. For officers, I hope to 
have permanently, Macdowell, Shebbeare, (now acting as 
my 2d in command of the Guides, and a most excellent 
officer,) and Hugh Gough of the 3d Cavalry. Saunders 

made 's removal a "sine qua non" before he would 

take charge of the district. He came to me to recom- 
mend a good officer to command the Jheend troops. I 
named that merry grig, George Hall, who is, I believe, 
available, and a really good soldier. I have got a very 
nice lad " pro tem." in the Guides, young Craigie, who 



TREACHERY OF THE KOTAH CONTINGENT. 27o 

promises very well indeed. I have seven officers at- 
tached to the Guides, but two are wounded, and Chal- 
mers is very ill. Young Ellis of the 1st Fusileers is 
down with cholera, poor boy ; and Colonel Welchman 
dangerously ill and in great agony. I grieve deeply for 
the brave old man, for I fear we shall lose him. 

July l^th. — We have had news from Agra to-day up 
to the 7th. The Neemuch rebels and others approached 
Agra from the south. The 3d Europeans and D'Oyley's 
Battery went out to meet them with the Kotah Contin- 
gent. The Contingent turned against us as soon as they 
came in sight of the enemy. A fight ensued, in which 
the mutineers got well beaten, despite the ti-eachery and 
great disparity of numbers ; two of their guns were 
taken. On our side we lost one gun, the tumbrels having 
been blown up and the horses killed. All our men's 
ammunition was expended, and they had to retire in good 
order into the fort. D'Oyley was killed and two officers 
wounded. Thirty casualties in all. The mutineers then 
rushed into cantonments, wbich they burnt and pillaged ; 
then broke open the great jail and released the prisoners. 
They did not venture near the fort, but marched off 
towards Muttra, and will, I suppose, come here. The 
delay here is sickening ; if it continues much longer, we 
shall be too weak-handed to attempt to take the place 
until fresh regiments arrive. 

I inspected my three new troops this morning ; very 
fine-looking fellows, most of them. I am getting quite a 
little army under me, what with the Guides and my own 
men. Would to Heaven they would give us something 
more to do than this desultory warfare, which destroys 
our best men, and brings us no whit nearer Delhi, and 
removes the end of the campaign to an indefinite period. 



276 SHARP ENCOUNTER. 

July \Uh. — Only time * to say I am again mercifully 
preserved, safe and unhurt, after one of the sharpest 
encounters we have yet had. Shebbeare got wounded 
early in the fight, so I led the Guide Infantry myself in 
the skirmish of the villages and suburbs. I charged 
the guns with some eight horsemen, a party of the Guide 
Infantry and 1st Fusileers. We got within thirty yards, 
but the enemy's grape was too much for our small party. 
Three of my officers, Shebbeare, Hawes, and De Brett, 
slightly wounded, and several men ; but though well to 
the front, my party suffered proportionably least. 

Of the Fusileers, who were with us, some sixty men 
were wounded ; Daniell's arm broken by a shot, Jacob's 
horse shot dead under him, Chamberlain shot through the 
arm, little Roberts wounded, and several more. 

Everybody wonders I was not hit ; none more than 
myself. God has been very merciful to me. Colonel 
Welchman better ; Brown also. More particulars here- 
after. 

July 15th. — I could only write a few words last night 
on my return from the fight, worn out as I was with a 
severe day's work. It is pretty much the same now, 
and while I write I am obliged to have two men to keep 
the candle alight with their hands, for the breeze gets up 
at night, and we have all the " Kanats " of the tents 
down to enable us to breathe ; and having no shades to 
the candlesticks, it is rather difficult to write even that I 
am safe. 

* Extract from Letter o/" Colonel [now Sir T.) Seaton, from Camp, 
at this time : — 

" Hodson's courage and conduct are the admiration of all, and how- 
he gets through the immense amount of work and fatigue he does is 
marvellous. 

" He has the soundest heart and clearest head of any man in camp." 



SICK AND WOUNDED. — NARROW ESCAPE. 277 

July 1 %th. — I have just bade good-bye to Colonel 
Welchman. The poor old man is better, but sadly pulled 
down and aged. The doctors now think his arm may be 
saved, that it may remain on, but it will never be of the 
slightest use to him again, the elbow-joint is so much 
injured. He and Captain Brown start to-morrow night, 
with a convoy of sick and wounded men and officers, for 
Umbala and the hills. Of these, the 1st Fusileers form 
a sad proportion. With one or two exceptions, nothing 
could be better or more gallant than the conduct of this 
regiment. Jacob, Greville, Wriford, all admirable in the 
field, ajid the younger officers beyond all praise ; Butler, 
F. Brown, Owen, and Warner, markedly so. In all the 
worst of the awful heat, dust, fatigue, work, and privation, 
— and all have been beyond description, — our plucky 
fellows have not only kept up their own spirits, but been 
an example and pattern to the camp. If any one was 
down in his luck, he had only to go to the Fusileers' 
mess and be jolly. 

The story in the papers about the boot was essentially 
correct for once, though how they should have got hold 
of it I do not know, for I never mentioned it even to 
you, since it certainly could not be called a wound, though 
a very narrow escape from one. A rascally Pandy 
made a thrust at my horse, which I parried, when he 
seized his " tulwar " in both hands, bringing it down like 
a sledge-hammer; it caught on the iron of my antigrope- 
los legging, which it broke into the skin, cut through the 
stirrup-leather, and took a slice off my boot and stocking ; 
and yet, wonderful to say, the sword did not penetrate 
the skin. Both my horse and myself were staggered 
by the force of the blow, but I recovered myself quickly, 
and I don't think that Pandy will ever raise his "tulwar" 



278 ANOTHER ATTACK. 

again. I should not have entered into all these details 
about self but for those tiresome papers having made so 
much of it. The fight on that day (the 14th) was the 
old story. An attack in force on the right of our posi- 
tion ; the enemy were allowed to blaze away, expending 
powder, and doing us no harm, until 4 p. M., when a col- 
umn was sent down to turn them out of the gardens and 
villages they had occupied, and drive them back to the 
city. I had just returned from a long day's work with 
the cavalry, miles away in the rear, and had come back 
as far as Light's advanced battery. I was chatting with 
him for a few minutes en passant, when I saw the column 
pass down. I joined it, and sent for a few horsemen to 
accompany me, and when we got under fire, I found the 
Guide Infantry, under Shebbeare, had been sent to join 
in the attack. I accompanied them, and while the Fusi- 
leers and Coke's men were driving the mass of the enemy 
helter-skelter through the gardens to our right, I went, 
with the Guides, Goorkhas, and part of the Fusileers, 
along the Grand Trunk Road leading right into the gates 
o^ Delhi. We were exposed to a heavy fire of grape 
from the walls, and musketry from behind trees and 
rocks ; but pushing on, we drove them right up to the 
very walls, killing uncounted numbers, and then were 
ordered to retire. This was done too quickly by the 
artillery, and some confusion ensued, the troops hurrying 
back too fast. The consequence was, the enemy rallied, 
bringing up infantry, then a large body of cavalry, and 
behind them again two guiis to bear on us. There were 
very few of our men, but I managed to get eight horse- 
men to the front. Shebbeare, though wounded, aided 
me in rallying some Guide Infantry, and Greville and 
Jacob (whose horse had just been shot) coming up, 



GALLANTRY OF GUIDES. 279 

brought a few scattered Fusileers forward. I called on 
the men to fire, assuring them that the body of cavalry 
coming down would never stand. I got a few men to 
open fire ; my gallant Guides stood their ground like 
men ; Shebbeare, Jacob, Greville, and little Butler, came 
to the front, and the mass of the enemy's cavalry, just as 
I said, stopped, reeled, turned, and fled in confusion ; the 
guns behind them were for the moment deserted, and I 
tried hard to get up a charge to capture them ; we were 
within thirty paces ; twenty-five resolute men would 
have been enough ; but the soldiers were blown, and 
could not push on in the face of such odds, unsupported 
as we were, for the whole of the rest of the troops had 
retired. My eight horsemen stood their ground, and the 
little knot of officers used every exertion to aid us, when 
suddenly two rascals rushed forward with lighted port-fires 
in their hands, fired the guns, loaded with grape, in our 
faces, and when the smoke cleared away, we found, to 
our infinite disgust and chagrin, that they had limbered 
up the guns and were off at a gallop. We had then to 
effect our reti-eat to rejoin the column, under a heavy fire 
of grape and musketry, and many men and ofiicers were 
hit in doing it. I managed to get the Guides to retire 
quietly, fighting as they went, and fairly checking the 
enemy, on which I galloped back and brought up two 
guns, when we soon stopped all opposition, and drove the 
last living rebel into his Pandemonium. My Guides 
stood firm, and, as well as my new men, behaved admira- 
bly ; not so all who were engaged, and it was in conse- 
quence of that poor Chamberlain got wounded ; for see- 
ing a, hesitation among the troops he led, who did not like 
the look of a wall lined with Pandies, and stopped short 
instead of going up to it, he leaped his horse clean over 



280 CRITICAL SITUATION. 

the wall into the midst of them, and dared the mien to 
follow, which they did, but he got a ball in the shoulder. 
There is not a braver heart or cooler head in camp ; his 
fault is too great hardihood and exposure in the field and 
a sometimes too injudicious indifference to his own life, 
or that of his men. We are in a nice fix here ; General 
Reed is so ill he is ordered away at once ; Chamberlain 
is on his back for six weeks at least ; Norman, however, 
is safe and doing admirably ; were he to be hit, the 
" head-quarters " would break down altogether. There 
will be no assault on Delhi yet ; our rulers will now less 
than ever decide on a bold course ; and truth to tell, the 
numbers of the enemy have so rapidly increased, and 
ours have been so little replenished in proportion, and 
our losses, for a small army, have been so severe, that it 
becomes a question, whether now we have numbers suffi- 
cient to risk an assault. Would to Heaven it had been 
tried when I first pressed it. How many brave hearts 
have been sacrificed in consequence. Coke's men suffered 
severely on the 14th from getting too close, yet not close 
enough, to the city walls. 

July nth. — But little private writing for me to-day, 
as I have only just come back from Brigadier Hope 
Grant's tent, whither I went on business, and I have 
been fully occupied with news-writers cum multis aliis. I 
begin to think of giving up this Quartermaster-General's 
work, now that times are so changed. I began with poor 
General Anson, "under his Excellency's personal or- 
ders ; " I continued this work under General Barnard at 
his request, and now for these last days under General 
Reed ; but he too is incapacitated by sickness, age, and 
anxiety, and goes off to the hills to-night. Colonel Cur- 
zon left for Simla yesterday. Colonel Congreve also 



CHAMBERLAIN AND BECHER WOUNDED. 281 

goes, so the head-quarters of the army are finally break- 
ing up. The Adjntiint- General (Chamberlain) is badly 
wounded, the Quartermaster-General (Colonel Becher) 
ditto, though he does work a little in-doors, if one may 
use such an expression of a tent, but he ought not to do 
even that much, so badly hurt as he is. Colonel Young, 
Norman, and myself are therefore the only representa- 
tives of the head-quarter staff, except the doctors and 
commissaries. The head-quarters of the army are now 
at Calcutta, General Pat Grant's arrival having been 
announced, and this army has dropped into merely a field 
force, commanded by Brigadier Wilson as senior, with 
the rank of Brigadier- General. I can hardly reconcile 
myself to throw up the Intelligence Department now that 
I have had the trouble of getting it into working order ; 
but for my own sake I must do so, for it is a terrible drag 
on me, and ties me down too much. I am wonderfully 
well, thank God ! and able to get through as much work 
as any man ; but commanding two regiments, and being 
eyes and ears of the array too, is really too much ! Sheb- 
beare and Macdowell are appointed to my regiment in 
general orders — the former as second in command, but 
to continue for the present with the Guides ; the latter as 
adjutant, but to act as second in command also, for the 
present. I hope to have another officer or two in a few 
days, as more now devolves on poor Mac than his fragile 
fiame can well stand. I wish his bodily strength was 
equal to his will and courage. It is hot, oh, how hot ! 
and we can have nothing but a hand punkah occasionally ; 
if our servants were to make off, we should indeed be in 
a pretty predicament, but hitherto they have been faith- 
ful and unmurmuring. 

July l^th. — I was quite unable to write yesterday, as 



282 SMART FIGHTING. 

I went out long before daylight ; so with the exception of 
a few minutes at 8 A. M. I was in the saddle until dark ! 
We had a smart engagement in the afternoon. I was 
sent for to take the Guide cavalry down into the suburbs 
to support some guns, and assist in driving the enemy 
back into the city. We were commanded by a fine old 
gentleman, who might sit for a portrait of Falstaff, so fat 
and jolly is he : Colonel Jones, of the 60th Rifles. We 
got down to our point, close to the walls of Delhi, easily 
enough, the rascally enemy being ready enough to turn 
and fly for shelter ; but to return was the difiiculty ; the 
instant we began to draw off, they followed us, their im- 
mense numbers giving them a great power of annoyance 
at very slight cost to themselves. The brave old colonel 
was going to retire " all of a heap," infantry, guns, and 
all in a helpless mass, and we should have suffered cruel 
loss in those narrow roads, wnth walls and buildings on 
both sides. I rode up to him and pointed this out, and in 
reply received carte hlanche to act as I saw best. This 
was soon done, with the assistance of Henry Vicars 
(Adjutant 61st) and Coghill, (Adjutant 2d Bengal Euro- 
pean Fusileers,) both cool soldiers under fire, though so 
young, and we got off in good order and with trifling loss, 
drawing the men back slowly and in regular order, 
covered by Dixon's and Money's guns. My own men, 
whose duty was the difficult one of enduring a very hot 
fii'e without acting, behaved admirably, and I had the 
satisfaction of losing only one killed and two wounded, 
besides a few horses, who generally come off second best 
where bullets are flying about. My poor " Feroza " was 
hit by one, but not dangerously, and I was again most mer- 
cifully preserved unharmed. I was out again early this 
morning reconnoitring, and have only just returned in 



NUMBERS OF ENEMY. 283 

time to write even so much, too much of myself as usual 
for my own feeling, but you will have it so.* 

July 20th. — I had a very fatiguing, because sunshiny, 
ride yesterday, and a troublesome species of reconnais- 
sance, to prevent the enemy getting into our rear. Their 
name is indeed " legion " compared with us. I should 
say, from all I can ascertain by the news-letters, that 
there cannot be less than 36,000t fighting men in Delhi, 
while we are barely a fifth of that number, including cav- 
alry and all ! Our position, however, is much strength- 
ened, and we now beat them with half the trouble we had 
at first, their appetite for fighting being considerably les- 
sened by having been so repeatedly di'iven back ; but 
alas ! we only drive them back, while we do not advance 
an inch. The odds have, moreover, fearfully increased 
against us by their continued accessions, and I confess I 
now see less and less hope of success in an assault ; when 
I first urged it, the enemy had not more than 7,000 
Sepoys in the city, while we had 2,000 infantry alone. 
Now, as I said before, the case is very different ; for even 
were we to undertake an assault with a reasonable pros- 
pect of success, if they should, in despair, determine to de- 
fend the city inch by inch, or street by street, we should 
not have men enough to secure our hold upon.it. In that 
case, the city people (all of whom are armed) would join 
in the fray, and, considering what the consequences of 
failure would be, and further, that to do this much we 
should be obliged to use up every man available, leaving 

* " On the return of the detachment from the fight of the 18th, Col- 
onel Jones, who commanded, -went to the General and begged to thank 
Captain Hodson for his most gallant and efficient assistance, adding 
his hope for no better aid wlienever he had to lead for the future." — 
Extract from a Letter from Camp. 

t It was ultimately ascertained that there were 70,000 or 75,000. 



284 MASSACRE. 

no one, or next to none, to protect our camp, sick, and 
wounded, from any attempt of the enemy, or of our ques- 
tionable friends, the country people, it becomes a matter 
of serious and painful consideration. A want of success, 
moreover, would now be productive of infinite mischief. 
From hence to Allahabad, the fort of Agra and the 
Residency of Lucknow are the only spots where the 
British flag still flies. We are more to be considered now 
as an isolated band, fighting for our very name and exist- 
ence in the midst of an enemy's country, than as an aveng- 
ing array about to punish a rebel force. Sir H. Law- 
rence is holding out at Lucknow, but Cawnpore has fallen 
into the hands of the rebels. Sir Hugh Wheeler, after 
three weeks' contest, with, we hear, only 150 Europeans, 
in an evil hour capitulated, on condition of being pro- 
vided with boats and a free passage to Allahabad ; as 
soon as they were on board the boats, the whole were 
massacred ! What became of the women and children 
we know not ; it is hoped they might have been sent away 
earlier and escaped ; otherwise it is horrible to think of 
what may have been their fate. Troops are collecting 
fast at Allahabad, and I hope moving on towards Cawn- 
pore ; some think we shall be forced to await their ar- 
rival at or near Delhi, before we can do anything effective. 
I trust earnestly that the city will not hold out so long. 
The people within it are immensely disheartened, and 
dissensions are I'ife among them. A split between the 
Hindoos and fanatic Mahommedans is almost inevitable, 
and, above all, money is getting scarce. Meantime, this 
" waiting race " is very wearying to heart and body. 

I have determined on giving up the Assistant 

Quartermaster-Generalship. It gives me more work 
than I really can manage in such weather, in addition 



FACING DANGER. 285 

to tlie CHimmand of two regiments. Macclovvell promi^^es 
admirably, and I trust there is every hope of our having 
a nice body of officers with " Hodson's Ilorse." Nothing 
further from Agra, beyond the assurance that all was 
well there. 

July 21st. — Just returned from a long reconnaissance, 
and the post going out, so I have time but for little. Do 
not believe what the idle gossips say, of my " doing the 
work of two or three men." I strive to do my duty, but 
I cannot consider I do more. I do not run wanton risks, 
but I cannot stand by and see what ought to be done, 
without risking something to do it. Had I not attempted 
what I did on the 14th, even with the insufficient means 
at my comnaand, we should have been exposed to a dis- 
astrous loss of life, and to the discredit of a reverse. 
That we cannot afford. It is not only the possession of 
India which is at stake, not only our name and fame as 
Englishmen, but the safety, life, and honor of those near- 
est and dearest to us ; were we to fail here, the horrible 
scenes of Meerut, Delhi, Rohilcund, Jhansee, and others, 
would be repeated in the Punjaub and hill stations. Who, 
then, as husband, brother, father, son, would hesitate to 
face any danger, any risk, which tended to secure vic- 
tory ? I saw that our men were retiring (by ordei") in 
great confusion, that five minutes more and the whole 
party would be destroyed, and the fate of the column 
sealed, for the enemy's cavalry and guns were opening 
on us at speed. It was a natural impulse to rush for- 
ward, and nobly was I aided by Jacob and Greville, and 
my handful of gallant Guides ; the tide was turned by 
the suddenness of the act ; the enemy were driven back, 
and our men had time to breathe. 'This was not much 
to do, but it was a great deal to gain. 



286 THE GUIDES AND THEIR LEADER. 

July 22d. — Again but a few lines, for I have been 
regularly hunted all day. I told you that Sir H. 
Wheeler had capitulated, and been treacherously de- 
stroyed with his party ; we have since heard that a force 
from Allahabad had reached Cawnpore under Colonel^ 
Neill of the Madras Fusileers, that Sir H, Lawrence has 
been succored, and that, in point of fact, our power up 
to Agra had been reestablished. God grant this be true. 
Agra is safe, and all well ; the troops which attacked it 
are afraid to come on here, and have halted at Muttra. 
The force in Delhi is much disheartened, and fights with 
gradually decaying energy. Already we have beaten 
them back in twenty-three fights, besides a few such af- 
fairs on my own private account, and though with con- 
sidei'able loss to us, yet with comparative ease, when you 
consider their overwhelming numbers. We had an en- 
gagement on the evening of the 20th, in which Colonel 
Seaton commanded our column, the 1st Fusileers, 61st 
Foot, and Guides as usual. I had command of the 
Guide infantry, and led the advance as well as covered 
the retreat ; and though we pushed close up to Delhi, 
we never had a shot fired from the walls until we had 
set out on our return to camp some way. They then 
came howling after us like jackals, but the Guides were 
mindful of their old leader's voice, and steadily kept 
them in check during the whole distance, so completely, 
that not a European soldier was under fire, and I only lost 
four men slightly wounded, while the enemy returned in 
utter discomfiture. Poor Light has been very ill, and 
Thompson has a bullet through his leg. Bishop also is 
wounded ; he retains the same calm composure of man- 
ner under the hottest fire and hardest work, as he habitu- 
ally exhibited on the Mall. These are excellent officers, 



COLONEL SEATON. 287 

but Tombs and Light are really splendid. I bope Cham- 
berlain's arm will be saved; he is a noble fellow, but of 
course has his weaknesses. 

July 2Uh. — I was quite unable to write yesterday. 
Pandy chose an unusually inconvenient hour for his at- 
tack, and kept us out until the afternoon, and then I was 
busied in attending to our poor friend Colonel Seaton, 
who, I grieve to say, was badly wounded, a musket-ball 
having entered his left breast and come out at his back, 
providentially passing outside the ribs instead of through 
his body ; his lungs are, however, slightly injured, either 
by a broken rib or the concussion, and until it is ascer- 
tained to what extent this has gone, he is considered in 
danger. I do not myself think there is danger, as no 
unfavorable symptom has yet appeared, except a slight 
spitting of blood ; but he is so patient and quiet that all 
is in his favor. I am deeply sony for him, dear fellow ! 
and fervently pray that he may be spared to us. There 
was little actual lighting ; the rascals ran, the instant they 
came in contact with our men ; the only firing being be- 
hind banks and garden-walls. Colonel Drought, late 
60th Native Infantry, was wounded ; Captain Money of 
the Artillery got a bad knock on the knee-joint, and Law 
of the 10th Native Infantry killed ; two killed and five 
wounded in the 1st Fusileers, who, as usual, bore the 
brunt. After many discussions pro and con, it has been 
arranged that I retain the Intelligence Department and 
give up the Guides. My own men require great atten- 
tion, as they are now in considerable numbei'S ; so the 
General has begged me to relinquish the Guides instead 
of the Assistant Quartermaster-Generalship ; the com- 
mand of two regiments being an anomaly. I am very 
ready to do this, though I regret the separation from the 



288 FAVORABLE REPORTS. 

men, and should have liked to have led my old corps into 
Delhi ; but it is best as it is. You at least will rejoice 
that it greatly diminishes the risk to life and limb, which, 
I confess, lately has been excessive in my case. The 
General was very complimentary on my doings while 
commanding the Guides, and " trusted to receive equally 
invaluable services from my new regiment." I have 
little doubt of this, if I am spared. I find General Bar- 
nard reported ho less than four times on my doings in the 
highest tei-ms ; and the last public letter he ever wrote 
was a special despatch to Government in my favor. It 
was, in fact, the only letter of the kind he ever wrote, 
for death intervened just as he was setting to work to 
bring those who had done well to the notice of Govern- 
ment. 

They tell me I shall get pay for the Assistant Quarter- 
master-General's Department,* as well as my command 
allowance. For the Guides, of course I shaU get noth- 
ing ; but, I must say, I work, not like a " nigger," con- 
sidering their work usually amounts to nil, but like a 
slave, in the Intelligence Department. I have been 
deeply shocked to hear that poor Chi'istian, his young 
wife, and babes were among the murdered in Oudh. 
Also Colonel Goldney. . . . All is well at Agra ; there 
are about 6,000 individuals in the fort, with provisions for 
six months ; they are probably relieved by now, for we 
hear that six English regiments were at Cawnpore on 
the 11th instant. This cheers up the men, and makes 
them think that Government has some thought for the 
gallant fellows here and elsewhere. I sent by Martin, 

* It was, however, refused by the Government, though asked for in 
the strongest terms of praise by Colonel A. Becher, Quartermaster- 
General, and recommended by the General ! — Ed. 



"TOUJOURS L'AUDACE." 289 

of the 75th, a parcel for Mrs. Hallifax, containing, with 
other things, the old pistol her poor husband gave me. 
I should have liked to have kept it as a memorial of him, 
but as she wished for it, of course I resign it ; the other 
arms, except the revolver, which Dr. Stewart says he 
lost, were packed up and sent to Umbala with other 
things. 

July 25th. — Well, yes, I did offer to go down the 
Doab towards Agra and Cawnpore, to open the com- 
munication, and ascertain exactly where the reinforce- 
ments were, and assist them with cavalry in coming up 
towards Delhi. It would have been of real use, and not 
so dangerous as this eternal potting work here. I pro- 
posed to take 600 of my Horse, 250 infantry of the 
Guides, and four guns ; could I not have made my way 
with these ? I humbly opine I could. I do not mean 
to say it was not a bold stroke, but in Indian warfare I 
have always found " toujours I'audace " not a bad motto. 
I can never forget how much we have at stake, that we 
have a continent in arms against us ; and I do think (and 
certainly shall always act so) that every man should do 
not only his duty but his utmost in a crisis like the 
present. 

July 26th. — A parcel with flannel shirts, &c., arrived 
last night. Those for the men I sent off to the hospital 
at once, to the doctors' great delight. Macdowell de- 
clares that the cap, his "jumpers," and the "baccy" 
Lord W. Hay was to send, must be in the box, and de- 
mands them imperiously. He is doing admirably, and 
promises to be a first-rate officer of light horse. He 
rides well, which is one good thing, and is brave as a 
lion's whelp, which is another. I only fear whether he 
has physical strength for such work in such weather. 
13 



290 ENGLISH NATION. 

The whole country is a steaming bog. I keep my health 
wonderfully, thank God ! in spite of heat, hard work, 
and exposure ; and the men bear up like Britons. We 
all feel that Government ought to allow every officer and 
man before Delhi to count every month spent here as a 
year of service in India. There is much that is disap- 
pointing and disgusting to a man who feels that more 
might have been done, but I comfort myself with the 
thought, that history (if Russell, not Macaulay, writes 
it) will do justice to the constancy and fortitude of the 
handful of Englishmen who have for so many weeks — 
months, I may say — of desperate weather, amid the 
greatest toil and hardship, resisted and finally defeated 
the worst and most strenuous exertions of an entire 
army and a whole nation in arms, — an army trained by 
ourselves, and supplied with all but exhaustless muni- 
tions of wai", laid up by ourselves for the maintenance 
of our Empire. I venture to aver that no other nation 
in the world would have remained here, or have avoided 
defeat had they attempted to do so. The delay as yet 
has been both morally and politically bad in many ways, 
and the results are already beginning to be manifest, but 
in the end it will increase our prestige and the moral 
effects of our power. A nation which could conquer a 
country like the Punjaub so recently with an Hindos- 
tanee army, and then turn the energies of the conquered 
Sikhs to subdue the very army by which they were 
tamed ; which could fight out a position like Peshawur 
for years in the very teeth of the Affghan tribes ; and 
then, when suddenly deprived of the regiments which 
effected this, could unhesitatingly employ those very 
tribes to disarm and quell those regiments when in mu- 
tiny, — a nation which could do this is destined indeed 



NANA SAHIB. 291 

to rule the world ; and the races of Asia must succumb. 
This is a proud feeling, and nerves one's arm in many a 
time of difficulty and danger, as much almost as the con- 
viction that we must conquer, or worse than death awaits 
us. The intelligence of Sir H. Wheeler's destruction 
came to us from too true a source to be doubted, — it was 
in dear Sir Henry Lawrence's own handwriting ; and 
has been confirmed, alas, too surely. All we do not 
know is whether the women and children were massa- 
cred with the men, or whether they escaped, or were 
I'eserved for a worse fate. 

One of my news-letters reports that eighteen women 
are in prison under the care (?) of Nana Sahib (Bajee 
Eao Peishwar's adopted son), who attacked Cawnpore. 
You must remember at the artillery review a very "swell" 
looking native gentleman, accompanied by another edu- 
cated native, who spoke French and other European lan- 
guages, and was talking a good deal to Alfred Light. 
WeU, this was the identical Nana Sahib who has done 
all this, and who must even at that very time have been 
meditating the treachery, if not the murders. 

There is not a word of truth in the report of " the 
King of Delhi coming out for a final struggle." Ru- 
mor has been saying so for weeks, with no foundation ; 
the truth is, the King is a mere puppet, a " ruse." He is 
old, and well-nigh impotent, and is only used as authority 
for all the acts of rebellion and barbarity enacted by his 
sons. The rascals talk (in the city) of coming round on 
our rear, and attacking us in the field. I only wish 
they would, for in the open plain we should hunt them 
down like jackals. They escape us now by flying back 
into the city, or under cover of the heavy batteries from 
its walls. When (if ever) they do come out, the Gen- 



292 EUROPEAN FORCE. 

eral has proposed to put the whole of the Irregular Cav- 
alry under my command, and I trust to give a tolerable 
account of the enemy, and show that " Hodson's Horse " 
are capable of something, even already. 

Colonel Seaton is doing admirably, I am thankful to 
say. He is patient and gentle in suffering as a woman, 
and this helps his recovery wonderfully. 

July 11th. — Since the 23d, hardly a shot has been 
fired here. The news-letters from the city mention 
meetings in the market-place, and talkings at the cor- 
ners of the streets, with big words of what they intend 
to do ; but they (the people) are actually cowed and 
dispirited, while their rulers issue orders which are never 
obeyed. 

I fear our movements wait upon theirs. We have no 
one in power with a head to devise or a heart to dare 
any enterprise which might result in the capture of 
Delhi ; and alas ! one cannot but admit that it would 
require both a wise head and a very great heart to run 
the risk with so reduced a force as we have here now. 
2,200 Europeans* and 1,500 Native Infantry are all that 
we now can muster. We have reliable news from be- 
low, that, on or about the 14th, General Havelock, with 
the first portion of the European force, met and attacked 
the villain Nana, near Futteypore (between Allahabad 
and Cawnpore), and beat him thoroughly, capturing his 
camp, twelve guns, and seven lac of rupees. The China 

* European force before Delhi, August 1 : — 

Infantry, 2,000 

Cavalry, 500 

Artillery, 550 

3,050 
On actual daily duty, . . 2,007. 



GOOD AND BAD NEWS. 293 

troops had arrived : Lord Elgin having consented to the 
employment of the whole. 

Sir P. Grant is coming up with these troops, " on dit," 
so that in six weeks from the date of the Meerut mas- 
sacre, 11,000 European troops will have landed in India; 
what a providential arrival, and what a lesson to Asiatics 
that they can never contend with England. 

This news has put the whole camp, even the croakers, 
of whom there are not a few, in high spirits. I only 
hope it is not too good to be true. 

As a set-off against this, news has arrived that Tudor 
Tucker, his wife, and Sam Fisher, are among the victims 
of this horrible insurrection, also, poor .James Thomason ; 
and of his brother-in-law's. Dr. Hay's, execution, there 
can be no longer a doubt. How many hecatombs of Se- 
poys would it require to atone for their deaths alone. 
When shall we see the last ; when know the full extent 
of these horrible atrocities ? The accounts make one's 
blood run fire. Our dear Douglas Seaton has arrived in 
England, much restored by the voyage, but not, I fear, 
sufficiently recovered to return, as soon as he would hear 
of the outbreak. A sad blow for him, poor fellow, for 
had he been here to command the regiment, he would 
probably have been a full Colonel and C. B. at the end. 
I am seriously uneasy at receiving no letters from Eng- 
land, though mail after mail must have arrived, and some 
people get their letters ! therefore why not I mine ? We 
get none even from Agra, and of course not below it, ex- 
cept by " Kossid," and they but little scraps, written half 
in Greek characters, to mislead or deceive, if the unfor- 
tunate bearer is stopped. They conceal them very in- 
geniously between the leather of their shoes, or tied up 
in their hair. I inclose one that came in even a more 



294 LADIES IN CAMP. 

singular letter-bag than either, rolled up in a piece of 
wax and packed into a hollow tooth. 

tells me that was furious at my having the 

Guides, but was compelled to acquiesce in it " as it was 
undoubtedly the best thing for the public service." How 
he must have winced when he was forced to confess that. 

July '29ith. — I have no news. The Pandies have not 
attacked us since the 23d, and are much dispirited. In 

reply to your and Mrs. 's wish to come to Delhi as 

nurses, I must say honestly that there is no necessity for 
such a sacrifice. Our position here is very different fi*om 
that in the Crimea and at Scutari. There the men died 
from want of care and of the ordinary necessaries of life. 
Here there is no absolute want of anything, except a 
genial climate and well-built hospitals, neither of which 
you could supply. The men are attended to immediately 
they are sick or wounded ; and within an hour, some- 
times half that time, of his being wounded, a soldier is 
in his bed, with everything actually necessary, and the 
greatest medical attention. Unless any unforeseen emer- 
gency should arise, I would strongly dissuade any lady 
from coming to camp. 

I have always urged the authorities to send away, as 
fast as possible, those who have arrived as refugees. We 
have a vast camp, or rather position, five miles in cir- 
cumference, and we are constantly obliged to take every 
man into the field. The guard for our sick is trifling 
enough, and our difficulties would be increased were there 
women also to be thought of; and God forbid that any 
more lives should be risked in this dreadful servile war. 
There is also another consideration of much weight 
against the tender sympathy which prompts the offer. 
How is a delicate woman's constitution to bear up against 



MASSACRE AT CAWNPORE. 295 

the evils of a tented field in the rains, or render efficient 
service in such a climate as this is now ? They would 
all very speedily become patients in the very hospitals 
which they came to serve and would so willingly support. 
The flannel garments are invaluable, and this is all that 
can be done for us by female hands at present. 

July 2dth. — I have been so occupied with business all 
day that I have only time to say we have had no more 
fighting, and the whole atmosphere is still, but hot, oh, so 
hot ! General Wilson is unwell, and will probably break 
down, like the rest. These sexagenarians are unfit for 
work in July. I expect Napier will be with the advanc- 
ing troops. I sincerely hope so. He is the man to do 
something, if they will but let him. 

July d\st. — I intended writing more fully to make up 
for my late short-comings, but the Pandies permit it not. 
They made an attempt on our position this morning ; 
nothing more, however, than a distant cannonade. A 
large party have moved round in our rear, and this has 
kept me in the saddle all day. I have just returned, 
after some hours of the heaviest rain I was ever out in, 
drenched to the skin, of coui'se, and somewhat tired, so 
judge what a comfort a dry flannel shirt must be. There 
was no actual fighting, so with the exception of keeping 
us out so long, and a great expenditure of powder and 
shot, no harm was done. 

August 1st. — The continued heavy rain promises to 
give me more time for pen-work to-day, if no more takes 
place on this side of Pandy-monium. The box has 
arrived safely with the new "jumpers," &c. Lord Wil- 
liam's additions are invaluable. We have fresh accounts 
from below that every European woman and child have 
been ruthlessly murdered at Cawnpore. The details are 



296 IDEA OF "DUTY." 

too revolting to put on paper, and make one's blood boil. 
Mothers with infants in their arms murdered with fiendish 
cruelty, and worse than all, two young girls just arrived 
from England are said to have been only saved to meet a 
worse fate in some Mussulman's zenana. There will be 
a day of reckoning for these things, and a fierce one, or I 
have been a soldier in vain. You say there is a great 
difference between doing one's duty and running unneces- 
sary risks, and you say truly ; the only question is, what 
is one's duty. Now, I might, as I have more than once, 
see things going wrong at a time and place when I might 
be merely a spectator, and not " on duty," or ordered to 
be there, and I might feel that by exposing myself to 
danger for a time I might rectify matters, and I might 
therefore think it right to incur that danger ; and yet if I 
were to get hit, it would be said " he had no business 
there ; " nor should I, as far as the rules of the service 
go, though in my own mind I should have been satisfied 
that I was right. These are times when every man 
should do his best, his utmost, and not say, " No ; though 
I see I can do good there, yet, as I have not been ordered 
and am not on duty, I will not do it." This is not my 
idea of a soldiei''s duty, and hitherto the results have 
proved me right. Poor Eaton Travers, of Coke's regi- 
ment, was killed this morning. He had just come from 
England via Bombay, with a young wife, whom he left 
at Lahore. Poor young thing, a sad beginning and end for 
her. We send off" convoys of the sick and wounded to 
Umbala, where we hear they are well tended and are 
doing well. Even here everything possible is done for 
them ; Dr. Brougham is an excellent man, and first-rate 
surgeon, quite the man of the camp in his line, clever, 
indefatigable, and humane. 



SICKNESS ON THE INCREASE. 297 

2c?. — The rebels attacked us about 5 p. m. yesterday, 
and kept us at it till seven or eight this morning. Our 
people kept steadily at their posts and behind intrench- 
ments, and drove them back with steady volleys every 
time they came near. The result was, that they were 
punished severely, while our loss was a very trifling one, 
not more than half a dozen Europeans killed and wound- 
ed; it is next to impossible ever to ascertain accurately 
what the enemy's loss is. 

Colonel Seaton is doing well ; in three weeks' time I 
hope he will be about again. Before this surely our 
rulers will consent to take Delhi. Sickness is on the 
increase, and we have been nearly losing another Gen- 
eral. General Wilson was very ill for a few days, but 
is now better. He is older, however, by ten years than 
he was. The responsibility and anxiety of what is cer- 
tainly a very difficult position, have been too much for 
him, and he has got into the way of being nervous and 
alarmed, and overanxious even about trifles, which shakes 
one's dependence on his judgment. These men are per- 
sonally as brave as lions, but they have not big hearts or 
heads enough for circumstances of serious responsibiHty, 
This word is the bugbear which hampers all our proceed- 
ings. Would we could have had Sir Henry Lawrence 
as our leader ; we should have been in Delhi weeks ago. 
I hope Colonel Napier is coming up with the force. He 
has head, and heart, and nerve, and the moral courage to 
act as if he had ; we hear that the crisis is passing ; all 
below Cawnpore is safe, and all above Kurnal to Pe- 
shawur ; while Lord W. Hay keeps the more important 
hill stations steady. When all is over, our power will be 
stronger than ever, principally because we shall have got 
rid of our great sore, a native army. 

1.3 * 



298 REPOET OF SIR H. LAWRENCE'S DEATH. 

3d. — 4 p. M. and I have only just got out of the sad- 
dle, and found on my arrival in camp the heaviest news 
that has yet reached us. Report says that Sir Henry is 
dead ! The news wants confirmation, and God grant that 
it may be untrue. I should lose one of my best friends, 
and the country (in Lord Dalhousie's words on poor 
Mackeson) " one whose loss would dim a victory." I 
cannot write more to-day ; the news has quite unnerved 
me. 

4:th. — Two letters have just arrived from General 
Havelock at Cawnpore. They were written at an inter- 
val of ten days, and mentioned his having had three suc- 
cessful fights, on the 12th, 15th, and 16th of July, and 
the reoccupation of Cawnpore. The first of these let- 
ters mentions a report that Sir Henry had died on the 
4th July, of wounds received on the 2d ; but the second 
letter, written ten days later, does not even allude to a 
circumstance of such importance, and the Sikh who 
brought it, and who left Havelock near Lucknow, on his 
way to its relief, maintains that it is not true, and that 
Sir Henry Lawrence was alive when he left, as letters 
were constantly passing from Havelock's camp to the 
" Burra Sahib." God grant, for his country's sake and 
for mine, that it be not true. To the country his death 
would be worse than the loss of a province ; to me it 
would be the loss of my truest and most valued friend. 
I hope, yet fear to hope, that it may be a false report ; 
yet what soldier would wish a more noble, a more bril- 
liant end to such a career ? Havelock has captured all 
the enemy's guns, and inflicted severe punishment. The 
destruction of Sir Hugh Wheeler and his party is fully 
confirmed, and Havelock was too late to save the unfor- 
tunate women and children, who were massacred in their 



FURY OF EUROPEAN SOLDIERS. 299 

prison, before his arrival, by their guards. Such fiends 
as these our arms have never met with in any part of the 
world. May our vengeance be as speedy as it will un- 
questionably be sure ! 

We (Hodson's Horse) are getting on very comfortably, 
and are going to start a mess on our own account, so as 
to be ready to march without difficulty when required. 

5th. — To-day the accounts received from a native 
Commissariat Agent, arrived at Meerut from Lucknow, 
are positive as to Sir H. Lawrence being alive a fort- 
night after he was said to have died. This, if reliable, 
is good indeed. The letter I annex * from Colonel Tytler 
gives good news, and the man who brought the letter, 
says there were fourteen steamers and flats at Cawnpore 
when he left. The troops had taken Bithoor, the Nana's 
place, and at first it was uninjured, but the bodies of some 
English women were found inside the Nana's house, on 
which the European soldiers, excited to irresistible fury, 
destroyed every human being in the place, and then de- 
molished the building, not leaving one stone upon another. 
The Nana himself, with his family, took refuge in a boat 
on the river, and the native accounts add that he sunk 
it, and all were drowned. This I strongly doubt ; such 
Spartan heroism could scarcely exist in the mind of 

* " Cawnpore, July 26<ft. 

" General Havelock has crossed the river to relieve Lucknow, which 
will be effected four days hence. 

" We shall probably march to Delhi to-morrow, with 4,000 or 5,000 
Europeans, and a heavy artillery, in number, not weight. 

" The China force is in Calcutta, 5,000 men. More troops expected 
immediately. We shall soon be with you. — Yours truly, 

" B. A. Tytler, 
'■^ Lieut.- Col., Quartermaster-General, 
" Movable Column.''' 



300 RECONNOITRING EXPEDITION. 

one who could violate and massacre helpless women and 
children. Indeed, I hope it is not true ; for it is one of 
my aims to have the catching of the said Nana myself. 
The hanging hinl would be a positive pleasure to me. I 
trust the day of retribution is not far distant. 

&th. — > Small chance of much writing to-day, for just 
as I have got into camp, after some hours' attendance on 
the pleasure of the Pandies, who came out in force and 
threatened an attack, I find that I have to start on a long 
reconnoitring expedition, from which I cannot return till 
late at night. This is unfortunate, as I have much pen- 
work on hand, my necessary official writing being very 
onerous. I was obliged to write as long a letter as I 
could to Lord W. Hay, if but to thank him, in my own 
and others' name, for the comforts he so thoughtfully 
sent us. 

I have a very complimentary letter from G. Barnes, 
the Commissioner, as well as some others, enough to turn 
one's head with vanity ; but I have had bitter experience 
of its rottenness, and take the flattery at its full value, 
namely, "nil." I fear, from fresh reports arrived, that 
Havelock will not come and help us after all. They say 
he has the strictest orders to relieve Lucknow only, and 
that however much he may desire to march on to Delhi, 
it is out of his power to do so. It is true we do not want 
him. Delhi surely must be taken as soon as ever the 
reinforcements get down here from the Punjaub. Our 
rulers must then see the necessity for action. 

1th. — I returned at three o'clock this morning from a 
forty miles' ride over the worst and wettest country I 
was ever in, and I am thoroughly exhausted, though 
everybody is wanting something, and I must attend to 
business first, and then to rest. 



DOCTOR LYELL'S DEATH. 301 

^th. — I could write nothing but official papers all the 
sedentary part of yesterday. I did not get in till 9 p. m. 
The news from below mentions good dear old Dr. Lyell 
as among the killed at Patna. Brave, noble fellow, his 
gallant spirit has led him to the front once too often. He 
had always as much of the warrior as of the surgeon in 
him. The report has again gained ground of dear Sir 
Henry's death, but my heart refuses credence to so great 
a misfortune. I do trust that when the 52d arrive, we 
may be allowed to do something better than this pot-shot 
work. Nicholson has come on ahead, and is a host in 
himself, if he does not go and get knocked over as Cham- 
berlain did. The camp is all alive at the notion of some- 
thing decisive taking place soon, but I cannot rally from 
the fear of dear Sir Henry's fate. How many of my 
friends are gone. My heart is divided between grief for 
those precious victims, and deep gratitude to God for my 
own safety and that of those dearest to me. May He in 
His mercy preserve me for further exertion and an ulti- 
mate reunion, and if not, His will be done. I have a 
letter from an unfortunate woman, a Mrs. Leeson, who 
was saved from the slaughter at Delhi, on May 11th, by 
an Affghan lad, after she had been wounded, and her 
child slaughtered in her arms. She is still concealed in 
the Affghan's house. I heard that there was a woman 
there, and managed to effect a communication with her, 
through one of the Guides, and to send her money, &c., 
and so I think the poor creature may be preserved till 
we enter Delhi, if we fail in getting her free before. I 
fear she is the only European, or rather the only Chris- 
tian (for she herself is hardly European), left alive from 
the massacre. Her husband was the son of Major Lee- 
son, and a clerk in a Government office in Delhi. I have 



302 "MAID OF DELHI." 

sent one of our few prisoners up to Forsyth at Umbala, 
whom we ironically call the " Maid of Delhi," though 
her age and character are questionable, and her ugliness 
undoubted. She actually came out on horseback, and fought 
against us like a fiend. The General at first released her, 
but knowing how mischievous she would be among those 
superstitious Mahommedans, I persuaded him to let her 
be recaptured, and made over for safe custody. It is a 
moot point whether any assault will be made as soon as 
the 52d arrive. I can only go on hoping, but I confess 
I am not very sanguine about anything being done now. 

Our General, since his illness, has got a still weaker 
dread of responsibility, and ceased to be nearly as vigor- 
ous even as heretofore. Would indeed that we had had 
Sir H. Lawrence here ; that he may have been, and still 
be spared to us, is my prayer ! The consequences of 
longer delay will be more and more disastrous to the 
health of the troops. Captain Daly has not formally 
reassumed command of the Guides, though he vii'tually 
does all the sedentary work. By an arrangement which 
I cannot but think unwise, and which deprives the corps 
of two thirds of its value, they have separated the regi- 
ment into two, putting the cavalry into the Cavalry Bri- 
gade under Hope Grant, and the infantry at the other 
end of the camp under Shebbeare, and Major Reid of 
the Goorkhas, who commands all the posts and pickets 
on our right. 

The Guides should not be separated, and should be 
kept as much apart as may be from other corps. No 
regiment in the world have done or will do better than 
they, with a little prudence, and under an officer whom 
they like and can trust. My own regiment is also in the 
Cavalry Brigade, and is very hard-worked. It is bad 



DISAFFECTION IN CITY. 303 

for a young and unformed corps, but there is such a 
scarcity of cavahy here, that I cannot even remonstrate, 
and I get no small amount of nvdog for having so large a 
number of men fit to be put on duty within two months 
of receiving the order to raise a regiment. I shall have 
two more troops in with the 5 2d, and Nicholson has given 
me fifty Affghans, just joined him from Peshawur, which, 
added to thirty coming with Alee Reza Khan from La- 
hore, will complete an Affghan troop as a counterpoise to 
my Punjaubees.* 

We expect the movable column on the 12th or 13th, 
weather permitting, and some other ti'oops a day or two 
after. Sir P. Grant is supposed to be at Cawnpore, but 
we have no tidings later than Colonel Tytler's letter. 
There is no actual fighting going on here, nothing except 
the usual cannonade. The rebels bring out guns on all 
sides, and fire away day and night, but bring no troops 
forward, and as we act strictly on the defensive, we merely 
reply to their guns with ours. The whole affair is re- 
duced to a combat of artillery, our leader's favoi'ite arm, 
excellent when combined with the other two, but if he 
expects to get into Delhi with that alone, I guess he will 
find himself mistaken. The news of disaffection in the 
city is daily confirmed. On the 7 th a powder manufac- 
tory exploded, and they suspended the minister, Hakeem 
Ahsanoolah, and searched his house ; there they found a 
letter which had been sent him, concocted by Moulvie 
Rujub Alee, which confirmed their suspicions, so they 
plundered and burnt his house, while he himself was only 
saved by taking refuge in the palace with the King, his 

* The uniform of "Hodsoii's Horse" was a dust-colored tunic, 
with a scarlet sash worn over the shoulder, and scarlet turban, which 
gained them the name of " the Flamingoes." 



304 SHOWEKS'S ATTACK ON THE ENEMY. 

master, who it seems is kept close prisoner there, his sons 
giving all orders, and ruling with a rod of iron. They 
say, however, that the King has got leave to send his 
wives and women out of the Ajmere gate to the Kootub. 
I trust it may be so, for we do not war with women, and 
should be sadly puzzled to know what to do with them 
as prisoners. 

August l\th. — The bridge over the Jumna resists all 
efforts for its destruction. Our engineers have tried 
their worst, and failed. I have tried all that money 
could do, to the extent of 6,000 rupees, but equally in 
vain. So there it remains for the benefit of the enemy, 
whose principal reinforcements come from that side of 
the city. Two messengers of my own, arrived from 
Lucknow, leave little hope of dear Sir Henry's life hav- 
ing been spared. I grieve as for a brother 

Talking of jealousies, one day, under a heavy fire, Cap- 
tain came up to me, and begged me to forget and 

forgive what had passed, and only to remember that we 
were soldiers fighting together in a common cause. As I 
was the injured party, I could afford to do this. The 
time and place, as well as his manner, appealed to my 
better feelings, so I held out my hand at once. Now-a- 
days, we must stand by and help each other, forget all 
injuries, and rise superior to them, or, God help us ! we 
should be in terrible plight. 

August 12th. — This morning a force under Colonel 
Showers moved down before daybreak towards the city, 
or rather the gardens outside the city gates, and gave the 
enemy, who had been ensconced behind the garden walls 
for a couple of days, and given our pickets annoyance, a 
good thrashing, taking four of their guns, and inflicting a 
heavy loss. AH were back in camp by 7 p. m., so it was 



BRINGING IN CAPTURED GUNS. 305 

a very comfortable little affair. Our fellows did admira- 
bly. Captain Greville captured one gun with a handful 
of men, getting slightly wounded in the act. Showers 
himself, Coke, and young Owen, were also wounded, and 
poor young Sheriff of the 2d mortally so ; the loss among 
the men was small in proportion to the success. The re- 
turn to camp was a scene worth witnessing, the soldiers 
bringing home in triumph the guns they had captured, a 
soldier, with musket and bayonet fixed, riding each horse, 
and brave young Owen astride one gun, and dozens cling- 
ing to and pushing it, or rather them, along with might 
and main, and cheering like mad things. I Avas in the 
thick of it by accident, for I was looking on as well as I 
could through the gloom, when Coke asked me to find 
Brigadier Showers and say he was wounded, and that 
the guns were taken. I found Showers himself wounded, 
and then had to find a field-officer to take command, 
after which, I assisted generally in drawing off the men 
— the withdrawal or retirement being the most difficult 
matter always, and requiring as much steadiness as an 
attack. 

August IZth. — I wish I could get some pay, but money 
is terribly scai'ce and living dear ; my favorite beverage, 
tea, particularly so. I have therefore sent to Umbala for 
some. 

Ghoolab Singh's death is unfortunate at this juncture, 
but I fancy we have too much to do just now to interfere 
with the succession ; we ought not to do so according to 
treaty, and if Jowahir Singh tries to recover the country 
from his cousin, Runbeer Singh, the King's son, why that 
is his affair, not ours — though we should never be con- 
tented to let them fight it out and settle it themselves. 
Poor Light has been brought very low by dysentery, and 



306 WELCOME LETTERS. 

can hardly crawl about, but about he persists in going, 

brave fellow as he is. What a contrast to , who has 

got away, sick or pretending to be so, to the hills, — any- 
thing to escape work. Greville is, I am thankful to say, 
not badly wounded, and as plucky as ever. All well at 
Agra ; no news from below. 

August lAth. — On returning from a rather dishearten- 
ing reconnaissance to-day, I found letters which soothed 
and comforted my weary spirit, just as a sudden gleam of 
sunlight brightens a gloomy landscape, and brings all sur- 
rounding objects into light and distinctness. 

I am no croaker, but I confess sometimes it requires 
all one's trust in the God of battles, and all the comfort- 
ing and sustaining words of those nearest and dearest to 
us, to bear up boldly and bravely through these weary 
days. A letter from good Douglas Seaton was among 
them. He little thought that so soon after his departure 
we should all be moving downwards, and that I should 
receive his letter in his brother's tent in " Camp before 
Delhi ; " his own dearly loved regiment * " next door " to 
us. How wonderfully uncei'tain everything is in India. 
I am interrupted by orders to start to-night for Rohtuck, 
and must go and make arrangements. 

* 1st European Bengal Fusileers. 



CHAPTER III. 

SIEGE OF DELHI, CONTINUED. ROHTTTCK EXPEDI- 
TION. ASSAULT. DELHI TAKEN. CAPTURE OP 

KING. CAPTURE AND EXECUTION OP SHAHZA- 

DAHS. 

BOHUE, NEAK ROHTUCK, AuQUSt 17th. 

I HAVE been unable to write since we left Delhi, as we 
have been incessantly marching, and had no means of 
communicating with any one. Even now I am doubtful 
whether this will reach camp. We left Delhi during the 
night of the 14th-15th, and marched to Khurkundah, a 
large village, in which I had heard that a great number of 
the rascally Irregulars had taken refuge. We surprised 
and attacked the village. A number of the enemy got into 
a house, and fought like devils ; but we mastered them and 
slew the whole. Yesterday we marched on here, intending 
to reconnoitre and harass " a la Cosaque " a large party of 
horsemen and foot, with two guns, who have been moving 
along from Delhi, plundering the wretched villagers en 
route, and threatening to attack Hansie. They, however, 
thought discretion the better part of valor, and, hearing 
of our approach, started oflP at a tangent before we got 
near enough to stop them. 

We have been drenched with rain, so I am halting to 
dry and feed both men and horses, and then we go on to 
Rohtuck. I have nearly 300 men and five officers, — 



308 LETTER TO COL. BECHER. 

Ward, Wise, the two Goughs, and Macdowell, — all first- 
rate soldiers. I have eighty Guides, and the rest my 
own men, who do wonderfully, considering how sadly un- 
trained and undisciplined they are. We are roughing it 
in more ways than one, and the sun is terribly hot ; but 
we are all well and in high spirits*, for though it is a bold 
game to play, I am too careful to run unnecessary risks, 
or get into a fix. I have done a good deal already, and 
shall, I hope, recover Rohtuck to-day, when I do trust the 
authorities will consent to keep it, and not let us have the 
work to do twice over, as at Bhagput. 



To Colonel Becher, Quartermaster- General. 

Mt dear Colonel, — We are getting on very well. 
I hope to take Rohtuck to-day, and I trust arrangements 
will be made for keeping it. The country will then be 
quiet from Hansie to Delhi. The Jheend Rajah should 
be told to take care of the district. I believe Greathed 
did make this arrangement, but Barnes put some spoke 
in the way, so that the Rajah is uncertain how to act. 
Please tell Greathed from me that there is nothing now 
to prevent the restoration of order here. I wish I had 
a stronger party, for though I feel quite comfortable my- 
self, yet I should like more troops, for the sake of the 
men, who are not quite so easy in their minds. The 
road by Alipore, Boanah, and Khurkundah is the best. 
The canal is easily fordable at Boanah, and just below 
that place (at the escape) it is quite dry, the banks hav- 
ing given way. We polished ofi" the Khurkundah gentry 
in style, though they showed fight to a great extent. It 
has had a wonderfully calming effect on the neighborhood. 



ROHTUCK EXPEDITION. 309 

I hope the Jheend troops, or some ti'oops, may be sent 
here. The Jheend men would more than suffice. 
Yours very sincerely, 

W. S. R. HoDsoN. 



Camp, Dusseeah, near Rohtuck, 19th August. 
This is the first rest since Bohur ; we have had very 
hard work, great heat, and long exposure ; but, thank 
God, are all well and safe, and have done some business. 
I marched from Bohur on the evening of the 17th. On 
reaching Rohtuck, we found the Mussulman portion of 
the people, and a crowd of Irregulars drawn up on the 
walls, while a considerable party were on a mound out- 
side. I had ridden forward with Captain Ward and a 
few orderlies to see how the land lay, when the rascals 
fired, and ran towards us. I sent word for my cavalry to 
come up, and rode slowly back myself, in order to tempt 
them out, which had partly the desired effect, and as soon as 
my leading troop came up, we dashed at them and drove 
them helter-skelter into the town, killing all we overtook. 
"We then encamped in what was the Kutcherry compound, 
and had a grateful rest and a quiet night. The represent- 
atives of the better-disposed part of the population came out 
to me, and amply provided us with supplies for both man 
and beast. The rest were to have made their " amende " 
in the morning ; but a disaffected Rangur went off early, 
and brought up 300 Irregular horsemen of the muti- 
neers, — 1st, 13th, 14th, and other rebels, — and having 
collected about 1,000 armed rascals on foot, came out to 
attack my little party of barely 300 sabres and six officers. 
The Sowars dashed at a gallop up the road, and came 
boldly enough up to our camp. I had, a few minutes 



310 DECEIVING THE ENEMY. 

before, fortunately received notice of their intentions, and 
as I had kept the horses ready saddled, we were out and 
at them in a few seconds. To drive them scattering back 
to the town was the work of only as many more, and I 
then, seeing their numbers, and the quantity of match- 
locks brought against us from gardens and embrasures, 
determined to draw them out into the open country ; and 
the " ruse " was eminently successful. I had quietly sent 
off our little baggage unperceived, half an hour before, 
so that I was, as I intended, perfectly free and unfettered 
by impedimenta of any sort. I then quietly and gradually 
drew off troop after troop into the open plain about a mile 
to the rear, covering the movement with skirmishers. 
My men, new as well as old, behaved coolly and admira- 
bly throughout, though the fire was very annoying, and a 
retreat is always discouraging, even when you have an 
object in view. My officers, fortunately first-rate ones, 
behaved like veterans, and everything went on to my 
complete satisfaction. Exactly what I had anticipated 
happened. The enemy thought we were bolting, and 
came on in crowds, firing and yelling, and the Sowars 
brandishing their swords as if we were already in their 
hands, when suddenly I gave the order, " Threes about, 
and at them." The men obeyed with a cheer ; the effect 
was electrical ; never was such a scatter. I launched 
five parties at them, each under an officer, and in they 
went, cutting and firing into the very thick of them. 
The ground was very wet, and a ditch favored them, but 
we cut down upwards of fifty in as many seconds. The 
remainder fiew back to the town, as if, not the Guides 
and Hodson's Horse, but death and the devil were at 
their heels. Their very numbers encumbered them, and 
the rout was most complete. Unfortunately I had no 



THREE DAYS WORK. 311 

ammunition left, and therefore could not without impru- 
dence remain so close to a town filled with matchlock men, 
so we marched quietly round to the north of the town, 
and encamped near the first friendly village we came to, 
which we reached in the early afternoon. Our success was 
so far complete, and I am most thankful to say with very 
trifling loss, only two men rather severely wounded, eight 
in all touched, and a few horses hit. Macdowell did 
admirably, as indeed did all. My new men, utterly un- 
trained as they are, many unable to ride or even load 
their carabines properly, yet behaved beyond my most 
sanguine expectations for a first field, and this success, 
without loss, will encourage them greatly. 

This morning I was joined by a party of Jheend 
horse, whom my good friend the Rajah sent as soon as 
he heard I was coming Rohtuck- wards, so I have now 
400 horsemen, more or less, fresh ammunition having 
come in this morning, and am quite independent. I hear 
also that the General has at ray recommendation sent out 
some troops in this direction ; if so, order will be per- 
manently restored in this district. In three days we 
have frightened away and demoralized a force of artil- 
lery, cavalry, and infantry some 2,000 strong, beat those 
who stood or returned to fight us, twice, in spite of num- 
bers, and got fed and furnished forth by the rascally town 
itself.* Moreover, we have thoroughly cowed the whole 

* Extract from Letter of Major-Geneeal Wilson. 
" The Major-General commanding the force having received from 
Lieut. Hodson a report of his proceedings and operations from the 
14th, when he left camp, till his return on the 24th, has much pleas- 
ure in expressing to that officer his thanks for the able manner in 
which he carried out the mstructions given him. The Major-Gen- 
eral's thanks are also due to the European and native otBcors and 
men composing the detachment, for their steady and gallant behavior 



312 INDEFINITE INSTRUCTIONS. 

neighborhood, and given them a taste of what more they 
will get unless they keep quiet in future. We count 
eighty-five killed, and numbers wounded, since we left 
Delhi, which is one good result, even if there were no 
other. One of them was a brute of the 14th Irregular 
Cavalry, who committed such butchery at Jhansi. No 
letters have reached me since I left camp, and I am not 
sure that this will reach there safely. It is a terribly 
egotistical detail, and I am thoroughly ashamed of saying 
so much of myself, but you insisted on having a full, 
true, and particular account, so do not think me vainglo- 
rious. 

Ltjrsowlie, August 22d. — I rode over to this place 
from our little camp at Sonput, eight miles off, to see 
Saunders and Colonel Durnsford. I find that two of 
my new troops have been detained on the road, but wiU 
reach Delhi in a day or two, and others from Lahore 
will soon arrive. I think the business at Rohtuck has 
been very creditable to us, but I can write no more than 
the assurance of our safety and well-being. 

Camp, Sonput, August 23d. — I could only write a 
few hurried lines yesterday. Late in the evening I got 
a note from General Wilson, desiring me to look out for 
and destroy the 10th Light Cavalry mutineers from 
Ferozepoor. He authorized my proceeding to Jheend, 
but without going through the Rohtuck district. Now, 
as to do this would involve an immense detour, and in- 
sure my being too late, and consequently having a long 
and fatiguing march for my pains, I wrote back to ex- 
plain this, and requested more definite instructions. He 

throughout the operations, particularly on the 17th and 18th inst., at 
Eohtuck. when they charged and dispersed large parties of horse and 
foot." 



GENERAL JOHNSTON. 313 

must either say distinctly " do this or that," and I will do 
it ; or he must give me carte hlanche to do what he wants 
in the most pi'acticable way, of which I, knowing the 
country, can best judge. I am not going to fag my men 
and horses to death, and then be told I have exceeded 
my instructions. He gives me immense credit for what 
I have done, but '■' almost wishes I had not ventui'ed so 
far." The old gentleman means well, but does not un- 
derstand either the country or the position I was in, nor 
does he appreciate a tenth part of the effects which our 
bold stroke at Eohtuck, forty-five miles from camp, has 
produced. " N'importe" they will find it out sooner or 
later. I hear both Chamberlain and Nicholson took my 
view of the case, and supported me wai-mly. 

I am much gratified by General Johnstone's exertions 
in my favor, though I have not the slightest idea that 
they will eventuate in anything ; but the motive is the 
same. Let me do what I will, I have made up my mind 
to gain nothing but the approval of my own conscience. 
I foresee that I shall remain a subaltern, and the easy- 
going majors of brigade, aides-de-camp, and staff-ofiicers 
will all get brevets, C. B.'s, &c., for simply living in 
camp, and doing their simple duties mildly and without 
exertion. The Victoria Cross, I confess, is the highest 
object of my ambition, and had I been one of fortune's 
favorites I should have had it ere now even, but I have 
learnt experience in a rough school and am prepared for 
the worst ; but whether a lieutenant or lieutenant-gen- 
eral, I trust I shall continue to do my duty, to the best 
of my judgment and ability, as long as strength and 
sense are vouchsafed to me. 

Camp, Delhi, August 2Uh. — I returned here this 
morning at 2 P. m., very tired and unwell, and not able 

14 



314 DOCTOR CHARLES. 

to write much, for I have been obliged to have recourse 
to the doctor. 

People have got an absurd story about my being shut 
up in a fort, without food or chance of escape ! The 
General's aide-de-camp tells me the old man believed 
this ridiculous report and was fairly frightened, getting 
no sleep for two nights. However, he fully admits the 
good service we have rendered, and every one is making 
a talk and fuss about it, — as if success were uncommon ! 
I find strong hopes of our making an assault on the city 
as soon as the siege train arrives, which will be in about 
thirteen days. Havelock seems unable or unwilling to 
move on, but we can hardly want him, for surely we 
shall have ample means for taking the city shortly. 

I am to have a surgeon attached to my regiment at 
once, as I repi'esented how cruel it was to send us out 
on an expedition without a doctor or a grain of medicine. 
We had eight wounded men, and two officers had fever 
on the road, and nothing but the most primitive means 
of relieving them. I asked for Dr. Charles, but there 
are so many senior to him waiting for a tui'n, that I 
must be content for the present with what I can get. I 
hope, however, to have Charles ultimately, for he is skil- 
ful, clever, a gentleman, and a Christian. 

Nicholson has just gone out to look after a party of 
the enemy with twelve guns, who had moved out yester- 
day towards Nujjufghur, threatening to get into our rear. 
I wanted to have gone with him, but I was laughingly 
told to stay at home and nurse myself, and let some one 
else have a chance of doing good service. This was too 
bad, especially as Nicholson wished me to go. 

26^^. — It is 4 p. M., and I am only just free from 
people and papers, but good news must make up for 



BATTLE OP NUJJUFGHUR. 315 

brevity. General Nicholson has beaten the enemy glo- 
riously at Nujjufghur, whither he pushed on last evening. 
He has taken thirteen guns, and all the camp equipage 
and property. Our loss M^as small for the gain, but tv^^o 
of the killed were officers, — young Lumsden of Coke's 
Corps, a most promising fellow, and Dr. Ireland. The 
victory is a great one, and will shake the Pandies' nerves, 
I calculate. -All their shot and ammunition were also 
captured. The 1st Fusileers were as usual " to the 
fore," and did well equally as usual. I am much disap- 
pointed at not having been there, but Mactier would not 
hear of it, as the weather was bad, and I should have run 
the risk of another attack of dysentery, from which I 
had been sulFering. I am half annoyed, half amused at 
the absurd stories about the Rohtuck business. We were 
never in any extremity whatever, nor did I ever feel 
the slightest anxiety, or cease to feel that I was master 
of the situation. Danger there must always be in war, 
but none of our own creating, as the fools and fearful 
said, ever existed ; would that folks would be contented 
with the truth and reality of our position, and not add to 
its desagremens by idle fears and false inventions. 

21th. — I have been up to my eyes in work all day 
again, and not had the pen out of my hand all day, 
except when on horseback with the men. Two troops 
arrived yesterday, and I have 250 spare horses to mount 
them, so that we are getting on by degrees. Such an 
experiment as raising a regiment actually in camp on 
active (and very active) service, was never tried before. 

I most decidedly object and refuse to allow Mr. 

to publish any extracts whatever from my letters. I say 
nothing that I am ashamed of, nothing that is not strictly 
true, but my remarks on men and measures, however 



316 TERMS REFUSED. 

just, would make me many enemies, and my misfortunes 
Lave taught me, though I may not condescend to concil- 
iate, at least to do nothing to offend. If, however, it will 
be any amusement to the loved ones at home to have 
some true sketches of this lamentable siege, and the 
progress in it of one dear to them, that is quite another 
affair, and 1 confess I should like to have some such 
references myself to look over hereafter. 

28th. — I am somewhat surprised at not hearing from 
Agra, but I cannot be sure that my letter reached there, 
as several of the " Kossids " have been " scragged " on the 
road. Sir P. Grant will not have a long course to run, 
as Sir C. Campbell has been sent out to command, and is 
in India, I fancy, by this time. Havelock, we hear, has 
retreated, leaving Lucknow still unrelieved. I cannot 
understand this, but we have not sufficient information to 
enable us to judge. After all, Nicholson is the General 
after my heart. 

29th. — I have just returned from a ride of twelve 
hours, leaving camp at three A. m., on a reconnoitring 
expedition, and have only time before the dak closes to 
say that I am safe and well. 1 found no enemy, and 
everything quiet in the direction of Nujjufghur, where 
I was to-day, over and beyond Nicholson's field of battle 
of the 25th. 

30th. — I have been writing and listening all this 
morning till I am tired, a man having come in from 
Delhi, with much assurance and great promises ; but he 
was sent back rather humbler than he came, for he fan- 
cied he should make terms, and could not get a single 
promise of even bare life for any one, from the King 
downwards. If I get into the palace, the house of Timur 
will not be worth five minutes' purchase, I ween; but 



INSURGENTS COLLECTING. 317 

what my share in this work will be, no one can say, as 
there will be little work for horsemen, and I do not now 
command any infantry to give me an excuse. I hope 
Sir C. Campbell will be here to lead us into the city, 
which seems probable at our present rate of no-progress. 
He is a very good man for the post of Commander-in- 
Chief, as lie has had great experience in India and else- 
where, and that, recent experience. Mansfield comes out 
with him as chief of the staff, with the rank of Major- 
General. 

31 St. — I have little public news for you; all is ex- 
pected here. The siege train will be in by the 3d or 
4th, I fancy, and then I trust there will be no more 
waiting. 

The letters from Agra show that a much greater and 
more formidable amount of insurrection exists than we 
were prepared to believe. Large bodies of insurgents 
have collected in different places all over the country, all 
well supplied with arms and guns. These are under the 
orders of different Nawabs, Rajahs, and big men, who 
think that now is their time for rule. None of these will 
be formidable as soon as the army is disposed of, but for 
a long time to come we shall have marching and fighting, 
punishing and dispersing, and it is to be expected that 
bodies of the fugitives from Delhi will join the standards 
of these insurgent leaders, and give us trouble here and 
there. The fall of Delhi will not be the end, but rather 
the beginning of a new campaign in the field ; but the 
very day the active portion of the woi'k is over, I shall 
ask to go to some good station, and organize and disci- 
pHne my regiment, and get it properly equipped, and fit 
for service. At present it is merely an aggregation 
of untutored horsemen, ill-equipped, half clothed, badly 



318 RAISING REGIMENT FOR SERVICE. 

provided Avitli everything, quite unfit for service in the 
usual sense of the term, and only forced into the field 
because I have willed that it shall be so ; but it would 
take six months' constant work to fit it properly for ser- 
vice. Generally when a regiment is raised, it is left 
quietly at one station until the commanding officer reports 
it " fit for service," and it has been inspected and re- 
ported upon by a general officer, when it is brought " on 
duty " by order of the Cotnmander-in-Chief. My idea 
of being able to raise a regiment when in the field, and 
on actual, and very active service, was ridiculed and 
pooh-poohed, but I stuck to it that it could be done, and 
General Anson was only too willing I should try, hitherto 
with success, and with the considerable gain, to an army 
deficient in cavalry, of having a good body of horsemen 
brought at once on duty in the field. How long it may 
be before I am able to get to a quiet station for the pur- 
pose required, it is impossible to foresee. I shall try to 
get sent to Umbala, or as near the Punjaub as possible, 
because my men are all drawn from thence, and it will 
be easier to recruit, than at a greater distance from Sikh- 
land. I have got six full troops, and another is on its 
way down. 

September 1st. — This is muster-day, and a very busy 
one to me, but I have wi'itten a minute letter to go by 
Kossid to Agra once more. The poor wretch who took 
my last was murdered on the road, so of course, the letter 
never reached Agra. The dak by Meerut is again sus- 
pended, so we can only send by Kossid. I have to-day 
got a new subaltern, a Mr. Baker, of the late 60th Native 
Infantry, and a doctor, so we are seven in all. I could 
not succeed in getting Dr. Charles just yet, but hope to 
do so eventually. Little Nusrut Jung has been allowed 



" HODSON'S HORSE." 319 

to come to me from the Guides, and I have made him a 
jemadai" at once. It is astonishing how well he reads and 
remembers English. The Testament you gave him is his 
constant companion, he tells me, and he is as interested 
as ever in the history of " our wonderful prophet." The 
Persians are certainly a very intelligent race, this one 
particularly so, and the seeds you have sown will surely 
bring forth fruit to his eternal benefit hereafter. More 
than half the Guides want t© come to my new corps, but 
this is of course out of the question. I am sending for 
Heratees and Candaharees, the farther from Hindostan 
the better. Mr. Ricketts, too, is collecting men from his 
district. I have at present 200 spare horses, but as I am 
to raise 1,200 or 1,400 men, I fear mounting them will be 
a difficulty ; it is very difficult to work in a camp on ser- 
vice where so little can be got or bought. Here come 
more news-letters from the city, and myriads of notes, 
besides post-time and parade, all at once ! I shall be 
glad when Delhi falls, and I cease to be Times, Morning 
Chronicle, and Post, all in one ! * 

2d. — ..." Hodson's Horse " made a very respectable 
show indeed last evening, when paraded all together for 
the first time, and I was much complimented on my suc- 
cess ; there are some in the last batch from Lahore whom 
I shall ultimately get rid of, wild low-caste fellows, and 
they did not behave very well the other day at the Ravee 
with Nicholson ; but, taken altogether, I am very well 
satisfied, and trust they will eventually turn out well, and 
do credit to the hard work I have with them. Colonel 
Seaton is better, — ^. e., his wound is healed, — but he 
suffers much pain from the tender state of the scarce 

*Keferriug to his charge of the Litelligence Depai-tinent. 



320 SICKNESS IN CAMP. 

united muscles when he moves. The weather is very 
trying just now, and very unhealthy. Poor Macdowell 
is unwell, and I fear he will have to go away sick; he is 
far from strong, which is his only fault, poor boy. I like 
him increasingly, he is a thorough gentleman. For my- 
self, I am wonderfully well, that is, as well as most in 
camp, though somcM'hat pulled down by heat, fatigue, 
and dysentery, and I am literally one of the " lean kine." 
All is quite quiet here ; only, a few occasional shots from 
the batteries. The Pandies are quarrelling among them- 
selves, and are without money ; they cannot hold together 
much longer, and I fear will break up if we do not speed- 
ily take the place. Only a chosen . band (!) will rally 
round the King, who, after all, is but a name, for his vil- 
lanous sons are the real leaders. The train is to be here 
to-morrow or next day, and 56 guns are to open on the 
walls at once. We hear that Caj)tain Peel, of Crimean 
celebrity, is on his way up to Allahabad, with a naval 
brigade and some sixty-eight pounders from his ship The 
Shannon. Glorious, this. Surely with the brave little 
army which has withstood all (and none but ourselves 
can know what that " all " comprises) the trials of these 
last months, and our own brave " tars," we shall speedily 
conquer this rebellious city, and make the last of the 
house of Tiraur " eat dirt." 

September 3d. — Nothing is going on here of public 
importance, and everything is stagnant, save the hand of 
the destroying angel of sickness ; we have at this moment 
2,500 in hospital, of whom 1,100 are Europeans, out of 
a total of 5,000 men (Europeans), and yet our General 
waits and waits for this and that arrival, forgetful that 
each succeeding day diminishes his force by more than 
the strength of the expected driblets. He talks now of 



OBJECTIONS TO PUBLISHING. 321 

awaiting the arrival of three weak regiments of Ghoo- 
lab Singh's force under Richard Lawrence, who are 
marching from Umbala. Before they ai'rive, if the Gen- 
eral really does wait for them, we shall have an equiva- 
lent to their numbers sickened and dying from the delay 
in this plague spot. " Delhi in September " is proverbial, 
and this year we seem likely to realize its full horrors. 
The train will be here to-morrow or next day, and I hope 
our General will not lose a day after that. He is a good 
artillery officer, with an undue estimate of his own arm 
of the service. He seems to realize the old saying, that 
officers of a " special arm," such as artillery and engi- 
neers, do not make generals. Wilson, for instance, looks 
upon guns as engines capable mathematically of perform- 
ing perfect results, and acts as cautiously as if in practice 
such results were ever attained by Asiatic gunners, for- 
getting all our glorious Indian annals, all the experience 
of a Bi-itish army, and hesitating before an Indian foe ! 
I never hear these old gentlemen talk without thinking 
of Sir Charles Napier's remarks on the Duke's comments 
on " Colonel Monson's retreat," and the heroic Avay in 
which he had read and profited by the lesson. 

As to the extracts fi'om my letters which Mr. B 

has asked for, I must decidedly refuse ; even supposing 
them to be of the importance which he professes to con- 
sider them, thei'e is a vast distinction between my pub- 
lishing, or allowing to be published, my letters, and 
letting my friends read or make use of them. I am per- 
fectly at liberty to write and speak freely to my friends, 
and they may show such parts of my letters as they think 
fit, to men in power and in Parliament; and these may 
again make use, in debate or in council, of knowledge 
thus gained, and details thus imparted, which would be 
14* 



322 HAED-WOEKED. 

otherwise beyond their reacli. All this is right, fair, and 
of every-day occurrence ; but I myself, as a military offi- 
cer, have no right to publish, or permit to be published, 
comments written, in the freedom of private correspond- 
ence, on my superiors, their acts, and proceedings. 

I have not the smallest objection to any of our friends 
seeing my written opinions, provided they know them to 
be extracted from private letters, and never intended for 
publication. I have no objection to Lord William Hay 
sending a copy, if he chooses, to Lord Dalhousie, or Lord 
EUenborough himself even ; but I cannot give permission 
to any one to publish what would be so injurious to my 
interests. You will think I have grown strangely worldly- 
wise ; but have I not had bitter experience ? 

September 4th. — There is nothing to tell of public 
news, and even if there were I have no time to tell it, 
for I am very busy and hard-worked, and only too thank- 
ful to get a few minutes to say I am safe and well. I 
have never written of public matters except as regarded 
myself. As to the stories about me at Rohtuck, the 
papers have repeatedly published the true as well as the 
false version of the tale, — even the Lahore Chronicle 
got it pretty correctly ; and after all, it is of very little 
consequence what the papers say as long as the correct 
version goes to Government and my friends. I sincerely 
trust we shall be in Delhi before the 15th. 

September 5th. — Poor Macdowell has had a bad attack 
of fever, which has brought him very low. He will have 
to go to the hills, I very much fear. The amount of 
sickness is terrible ; we have 2,500 men in hospital, and 
numbers of officers besides. Another of the 61st, Mr. 
Tyler, died of cholera to-day. I would give a great deal 
to get away, if but for a week, but I must go where I 



HOME. 323 

can do most towards avenging the past, and securing our 
common safety for the future. No arrangements are 
making for any movements after the capture of Delhi ; 
we sadly want a head over us. 

September Qth. — To-night I believe the engineers are 
really to begin work constructing batteries, so that in two 
or three days Delhi ought to be taken. If General Wil- 
son delays now, he will have nothing left to take ; all the 
Sepoys will be off to their homes, or into Rohilcund, or 
into Gwalioi'. News from Cawnpore to 25th August has 
been received. Up to that date Lucknow was safe, but 
with only fifteen days' provisions left ; and apparently no 
vigorous measures being taken to relieve the place. 
Havelock has not enough men, he says ; and report adds 
that the Governor-General has forbidden other regiments 
to move on,, wishing to keep them at Benares to cover 
Calcutta. This appears incredible. The Sepoys in 
Delhi are in hourly expectation of our attack, and the 
cavalry keep their horses saddled night and day, ready to 
bolt at a moment's notice, — so say the news-letters. I 
suspect that, the moment we make an attack in earnest, 
the rebel force will disappear. Of public news I have 
none beyond this, and I am still, like every one else, in 
the dark as to what we do after Delhi is taken, or where 
and when we go. If the campaign lasts very long I shall 
be forced to go home next year, for even my health will 
not stand against many more months of wear and tear 
like the last. Yet who can say what even a day may 
bring forth, or can venture to make plans for a future 
year, after the experiences of the last ? God's merciful 
providence has hitherto preserved me most wonderfully 
from myriads of no common dangers, and I humbly pray 
that I may be spared to see my home, and those who 



324 ATTACK ON LUCKNOW. 

make home so dear, once more. Home, altered and 
bereaved as it is since I left it, still holds the precious 
sisters and brothers of the past, and the bright new gen- 
eration with whom I long to make acquaintance. 

September 1th. — News has just been received up to 
the 27th from Cawnpore : the garrison in Lucknow had 
been attacked by the enemy in vast numbers, headed by 
a lot of " Ghazees." They were repulsed with such 
severe loss that the enemy would not venture to try that 
game again, were the siege to be protracted for two 
years ; they say 150 Ghazees, and between 400 and 500 
Sepoys were killed. Colonel Otter was appointed com- 
mandant of Allahabad, at which I rejoice, for he will 
" come out strong " whenever he has a chance. One of 
our batteries was armed (^'. e., guns put into it) last 
night, and the bigger one will be made to-night ; so that 
by the 9th I trust Delhi will be ours. 

September 8th. — To-day two new batteries, constructed 
during the night for the heavy guns, opened on the walls 
and bastions of the city, and the cannonade on both sides 
has been very heavy ; to-morrow other batteries will be 
ready, and on the following day fifty guns, I trust, will 
be at work on the doomed city. Very little loss was 
experienced during the night, only two men being hit ; 
and the casualties to-day have been surprisingly few. 
I cannot believe there will be any serious resistance 
when once the enemy's guns are silenced. There is at 
present nothing to lead one to suppose that the enemy 
have any intention of fighting it out in the city, after we 
have entered the breach. All, I fancy, who can, will be 
off as soon as we are within the walls. The General has 
not decided yet on the operations which are to succeed 
Delhi ; he says he shall send a strong column in pursuit. 



SIR COLIN CAMPBELL IN CALCUTTA. 325 

which I hope will be under Nicholson, but he has not 
settled who is to go, or who to stay. I trust I may be 
among the pursuers. I am constantly interrupted by 
business, and the necessity of watching the enemy, lest 
any attempt should be made to turn our flank while we 
are busied with the batteries in fi'ont. For myself, I am 
not necessarily much exposed to fire, except every now 
and then ; I never run into danger unless obliged to do 
so for some rightful purpose, and where duty and honor 
call. 

Sept. 9th. — ... To descend to life's hard struggle ; 
our guns are blazing away, but only in partial numbers 
as yet, the work having been necessarily distributed over 
two nights instead of one. The garrison at Lucknow is 
all well, and likely to continue so, for they have plenty 
of wheat, though no European supplies. However, 
British soldiers have worked and fought on bread and 
water ere now, and will do it again ; and I have no doubt 
the gallant 3 2d will keep up their spirit and their fame. 
Reinforcements were reaching Cawnpore, and Sir J. 
Outram was on his way up with 1,500 more soldiers and 
some artillery. Cholera, their worst enemy, had disap- 
peared, and their communication with Calcutta was quite 
open. Sir Colin had reached Calcutta, and taken com- 
mand of the army. I do hope he will come up country 
at once, and Colonel Napier with him. Poor Alfred 
Light, after five weeks' severe illness, leaves to-night for 
the hills, to save his life. Hay has been written to, to 
take him in ; if he cannot, I am sure you will do so. 
Poor fellow ! I have a real regard for him, and it is a 
terrible disappointment that he cannot be at the actual 
taking of Delhi, having been so long before the walls. 
Sickness is terribly on the increase, and Wilson talks of 



326 TRENCHES. 

getting into Delhi on the 21st. If the sickness does in- 
crease he wont have a sound man left by the 21st. 

I was up till 2 A. M. in the trenches, examining the 
work, and helping what little I could,* and almost ever 
since I have been on horseback, and a terrible hot day it 
has been in all ways. Some of the enemy's horse came 
out and began to poach on our preserves, and I had to go 
after them ; they are such essential cowards that it is im- 
possible to bring them to a regular fight ; they will not 
come from within reach of their shelter, running off at 
once to cover, where it would be madness to go after 
them. The new batteries did not begin to-day, after all ; 
they were not quite ready, and the engineers would not 
let them open fire. ... I am very much pleased 
with 's letter, and rejoice that he is out on an ex- 
pedition; the change of air will do him good after that 
frightful cholera. His story t of the soldier might be 
matched by many a rough compliment I get from the 
men of the 1st Fusileers ; the most genuine perhaps, cer- 
tainly the most grateful to my feelings, of any I receive ; 
a soldier is generally the best and shrewdest judge of an 
officer's qualifications. 

September Wth. — There is no public news, except that 
the batteries are working away at the walls ; but our en- 

* An artillery officer told me of my brother, that even when he 
might have taken rest he would not: but instead, would go and help 
work at the batteries, and exposed himself constantly in order to re- 
lieve some fainting gunner or wounded man. — Ed. 

t The story referred to was told by an officer: visiting the sick in 
hospital in the fort at Agra, he asked a man, severely wounded, whether 
he coiild do anything for him. " Oh yes, sir," was the answer, " if you 
would be so good as to read us anything in the papers about that Cap- 
tain Hodson ; he's always doing something to make us proud of our 
country, and of belonging to the same service as that noble fellow; it 
makes one forget the pain." 



UNHEALTHY SPOT. 327 

gineers have failed terribly in their estimate of the time 
required for the works, and all the batteries are even yet 
not finished. It is now, however, only a question of days, 
one or two more or less, and Delhi must be ours. I shall 
be very thankful to get away from here. I look upon 
this as the veiy worst climate I liave ever been in, and 
another month would make us all ill. Another of my 
officers. Captain Ward, is very ill, and two more are ail- 
ing. Macdowell, I am thankful to say, is a little better. 
The natives, too, are very sick, and a large number are 
in hospital ; in short, we want to be in Delhi. 

September 12th. — I was interrupted in the midst of my 
pen-work this morning by an alarm (which proved to be 
a false one) of an attack of cavalry on our rear ; it turned 
us all out, and kept me in the saddle till now, 5 p. m., so 
I can only say I am safe and unhurt. I trust in three 
days Delhi will be ours. I fancy my share in the assault 
will be one of duty rather than of danger. The cavalry 
have but small work on these occasions. I cannot yet 
tell what will occur after the capture. I fancy a column 
under Nicholson will be pushed on to Agra or Cawnpore, 
and I hope my regiment will be of the party. 

September I'^th. — I find I am to accompany Nichol- 
son's column at his own request, but where we are to go 
is unknown ; whether in pursuit of the rebels who are 
fast evacuating Delhi, or towards Agra, we know not ; 
Nicholson strongly urges the former. I am very glad for 
my own sake that I am to go on, for this place is dread- 
fully unhealthy, and I feel that I shall certainly be ill if I 
remain here much longer. In fact, I had made up my 
mind not to remain if possible, and when Nicholson urged 
my going on with him I was only too ready to second the 
motion, for I am able to work and to fight, and I must do 



328 THE ASSAULT. 

SO as long as I can. Some of the Gwalior troops have 
crossed the Chumbul River, and are supposed to be 
threatening Agra. HoM^ever, the fall of Delhi will make 
every difference in their proceedings, and show them that 
we can do something, though so late ; we are looking for- 
ward to a little " active service " to-morrow ; may God 
grant success to our arms, and safety to our brave band 
as much as may be. 

September 15th. — I was totally unable to leave the 
field yesterday until dark, and long after post-time, but I 
ascertained that a telegraphic message was sent to Simla. 
I sent one up as soon as possible, for transmission to you 
through Lord W. Hay, but Colonel Becher had fore- 
stalled me. . . . The breaches made by our artillery 
were successfully stormed early in the morning, with but 
little loss then ; our loss, subsequently, however, I grieve 
to say, was most distressing, and that, in attempting un- 
successfully the capture of the Puhareepore and Kishen- 
gunge suburbs. The whole extent of our loss is not 
yet known, but that already ascertained is grievous to a 
degree. First, poor Nicholson most dangerously wound- 
ed, at a time, too, when his services were beyond expres- 
sion valuable.* The 1st European Bengal Fusileers was 

* The following account of the assault, by an officer of the 1st 
European Bengal Fusileers, will supply many particulars of inter- 
est: — 

" At 2 o'clock A. M. we formed in front of our camp 250 strong, and 
marched down to Ludlow Castle, which we reached about daybreak. 
There we paused some time to receive our ladders, and advanced at 
sunrise to the assault. Every man felt this day would repay him for 
four months of hard knocks, and that we should give the murderous 
ruffians a wholesome lesson, and teach them that a hand-to-hand 
struggle with armed men was quite another affair to one with defence- 
less women and children. We cross the glacis, the fire is hot; de- 
scend and reascend the ditch, mount the bei'me and escalade. Hai'k ! 



ACCOUNT OF THE ASSAULT. 329 

the most tried, and suffered out of all proportion, save in 
the especial case of the Engineers, of whom ten, out 
of the seventeen engaged, have been killed or wounded. 

what noise is that? not the Sepoy's wai--cry ' Bum, Bum ram, ram, 
Oh King' for which you are intently listening; but the wild, thrilling 
cheer of the British, which announces to friend and foe that the ram- 
parts are won. We descend and meet in the Cashmere Bastion, and 
ai-e astonished at our rapid success. A general shaking of hands 
takes place. ' Oh, General, is that you? ' ' Paddy, my boy, how are 
you ? ' these and such like greetings take place, whilst the diffei-ent 
regiments form. We moved out rapidly and stormed the church and 
adjacent buOdings, and killed a number of Sepoys as they retreated 
from the Water Bastion. After this, we proceeded round the ram- 
parts to our right without very much opposition, and halted at the 
Cabul Gate for some time ; again the word was forward, and in lead- 
ing on the men, my glorious friend George Jacob was mortally wound- 
ed ; he, poor fellow, was shot in the thigh, and died that night. As 
he lay writhing in his agony on the ground, unable to stand, two or 
three men went to take him to the rear, but a sense of duty was supe- 
rior to bodily pain, and he refused their aid, desiring them to go on 
and take the guns. Twice did the enemy repulse us from this strong 
position, our third attempt was successful, but two guns hardly repaid 
us for our loss. ' Sergeant Jordan,' I said, ' spike that gun on the 
rampart.' ' I can't, sir, I've no spikes.' ' Then take a ramrod, break 
it in, and throw it down to me ; ' and I spiked the other gun in the 
same way. The enemy eventually retook this position, but found 
only useless guns. A little in advance, the enemy had a gun and 
bullet-proof breastwork, behind which they fired on us with impunity. 
This was on the rampart, and we were in a narrow lane about twelve 
feet below, where not more than four men could go abreast. In one 
charge, Nicholson, our best and bravest, was struck down. Speke, 
gentle everywhere but in the field, was mortally wounded, and I, in 
re-forming the regiment for a renewed attempt, was shot through the 
right shoulder, which will prevent my being bumptious for some 
time; out of our small party, seven otficers and many, very many 
men had fallen. It was felt to be madness to continue the struggle 
where the enemy had all the advantage, and the troops were with- 
drawn to the Cabul Gate, but the British and Sikh soldiers had done 
their work, they had opened the road for our unrivalled artillery to 
bring in their guns, and in six days they cleared the city with very 
trifling loss on our side." 



830 KILLED AND WOUNDED. 

Chesney and Hovenden among the latter, though not 
badly. Of the Fusileers, poor Jacob was mortally wound- 
ed, since dead, I grieve to say ; Greville, badly ; Owen, se- 
verely; Wemyss and Lambert, slightly; Butler, knocked 
down and stunned ; F. Brown and Warner, both grazed. 
Of officers attached to the regiment. Captain Mac Barnett 
was killed ; Staffijrd, wounded ; Speke, mortally so ; what 
a frightful list ! Besides this, Captain Boisragon was 
wounded badly, with the Kumaon battalion ; so that, of 
the officers of the 1st Fusileers engaged yesterday, only 
Wriford, Wallace, and myself, escaped untouched. My 
preservation (I do not like the word escape) was mirac- 
ulous. For more than two hours we had to sit on our' 
horses under the heaviest fire troops are often exposed to, 
and that, too, without the chance of doing anything but 
preventing the enemy coming on. Brigadier Hope Grant 
commanded, and while I doubt his judgment in taking 
cavalry into such a position, I admit that it was impossi- 
ble for any man to take troops under a hotter fire, keep 
them there more steadily, or exhibit a more cool and 
determined bravery than he did. My young regiment 
behaved admirably, as did all hands. The loss of the 
party was of course very severe. Of Tombs's troop 
alone, twenty-five men (out of fifty) and seventeen horses 
were hit. The brigadier and four officers composing his 
staff all had their horses killed, and two of the five were 
wounded. The brigadier himself was hit by a spent shot ; 
Tombs escaped, I am delighted to say, from a similar 
spent ball. Our success on the whole was hardly what it 
should have been, considering the sacrifice, but the gi'eat 
end of getting into Delhi was attained. About one third 
of the city is in our power, and the remainder will shortly 
follow, but that third has cost us between 600 and 700 



MACDOWELL'S LETTER. 331 

killed and wounded.* I am most humbly and heartily 
gi'ateful to a merciful Providence that I was spared. 
May the God of battles continue His gracious protection 
to the end, and enable me once more to be reunited to all 
most precious to me on earth. 



Letter from Lieutenant JVIacdowell, 2c? in command 
Hodson^s Horse. 

" Delhi. 

" On the night of the 13th September, final prepara- 
tions were made for the assault on the city. Brigadiers 
and commanding officers (our little army boasts of no 
generals of divisions) were summoned to the General's 
tent, and then received their instructions. At 1 o'clock 
A. M. on the 14th, the men all turned out silently, no 
bugles or trumpets sounding, and moved down in silence 
to the trenches. The batteries all this time kept up an 
unceasing fire on the city, which responded to it as usual. 
On arriving at the trenches the troops lay down, awaiting 
the signal, which was to be given at daybreak, and which 
was to be the blowing in of the Cashmere Gate, towards 
which a party of Engineers and Sappers moved off at 
about 3 A. M. The assault was to be made in three col- 
umns : the first was to blow open the Cashmere Gate, the 
second to escalade the Water Bastion, and the third to 
escalade the Moree Bastion, both of which had been pro- 
nounced practicable. As I was with the cavalry all the 
time, I saw nothing of the storming, but it is sufficient to 
say it succeeded on every point, and by 8 A. M. we were 
inside the walls, and held all their outworks. 

" Now began the difficulty, as from the small force we 
* 66 officers, 1,104 men, was the official return. 



332 DETAILS OF THE FALL OF DELHL 

had, it was very hard work to drive a large body of men 
out of such a city as Delhi. It took four days to accom- 
plish, but at length, on the morning of the 20th, the flag 
of Old England floated gracefully out over the palace of 
the Great Mogul. And now for what we (the cavalry) 
did. At 3 A. M.* we moved down in column of squad- 
rons to the rear of our batteries, and waited there till 
about 5 A. M., when the enemy advanced from the Lahore 
Gate with two troops of artillery, no end of cavalry, and 
a lot of infantry, apparently to our front. I think they 
intended to try and take our old position now that we had 
got theirs. In an instant horse artillery and cavalry 
were ordered to the front, and we went there at the gal- 
lop, bang through our own batteries, the gunners cheering 
us as we leapt over the sand-bags, &c., and halted under 
the Moree Bastion, under as heavy a fire of round shot, 
grape, and canister, as I have ever been under in my 
life. Our artillery dashed to the front, unlimbered, and 
opened upon the enemy, and at it they both went ' ham- 
mer and tongs.' Now you must understand we had no 
infantry with us. All the infantry were fighting in the 
city. They sent out large bodies of infantry and cavalry 
against us, and then began the fire of musketry. It was 
tremendous. There we were (9th Lancers, 1st, 2d, 4th 
Sikhs, Guide Cavalry, and Hodson's Horse) protecting 
the Artillery, who were threatened by their infantry and 
cavalry. And fancy what a pleasant position we were 
in, under this infernal fire, and never returning a shot. 
Our artillery blazed away, of course, but we had to sit 
in our saddles and be knocked over. However, I am 
happy to say we saved the guns. The front we kept was 
so steady as to keep them back until some of the Guide 
* On the 16th. 



CAVALRY UNDER FIRE. 333 

infantry came down and went at them. I have been in a 
good many fights now, but always under such a heavy 
fire as this with my own regiment, and then there is al- 
ways excitement, cheering on your men, who are replying 
to the enemy's fire ; but here we were in front of a lot of 
gardens perfectly impracticable for cavalry, under a fire 
of musketry which I have seldom seen equalled, the 
enemy quite concealed, and here we had to sit for three 
hours. Had we retired, they would at once have taken 
our guns. Had the guns retired with us, we should have 
lost the position. No infantry could be spared to assist 
us, so we had to sit there. Men and horses were knocked 
over every minute. We suffered terribly. With my usual 
good luck I was never touched. Well, all things must 
have an end. Some infantry came down and cleared the 
gardens in our front, and as their cavalry never showed, 
and we had no opportunity of charging, we fell back, and 
(the fire being over in that quarter) halted and dis- 
mounted.* All this time hard fighting was going on in 
the city. The next day, and up to the morning of the 
19th, we did nothing (I am now speaking exclusively of 
the cavalry brigade) but form in line on the top of the 
ridge, ready to pursue the enemy should they turn out of 
the city in force." f 

* Oue of the officers present on this occasion, speaking of it in a 
letter to his wife, says, " I found time, however, for admiration of 
Hodson, who sat like a man carved in stone, and as calm and appar- 
ently as unconcerned as the sentries at the Horse Guards, and only by 
his eyes and his ready hand, whenever occasion offered, could you 
have told that he was in deadly peril, and the balls flying amongst us 
as thick as hail." 

t Extract from the Despatch of Brigadier Hope Grant, Commanding 
Cavalry Division. 
" Head-Quakteks, Delhi, Sept. 17th, 1857. 

" The behavior of the Native Cavalry was also admirable. Noth- 



334 HEAVY LOSS. 

Septemher 1 &th. — I have just returned from a very 
long and terribly hot ride of some hours to ascertain the 
movements, position, and line of retreat of the enemy, 
and I can do no more than report my safety. I grieve 
much for poor Major Jacob, we buried him and three 
sergeants of the regiment last night ; he was a noble 
soldier. His death has made me a captain, the long 
wished-for goal ; but I would rather have served on as 
a subaltern than gained promotion thus. Greville and 
Owen are doing well, but I much fear there is no hope 
for poor Nicholson ; his is a cruel wound, and his loss 
would be a material calamity. You may count our real 
officers on your fingers now — men, I mean, really worthy 
the name. General Wilson is fairly broken down by 
fatigue and anxiety, he cannot stand on his legs to-day ; 
fortunately, Chamberlain is well enough to go down and 
keep him straight ; and Colonel Seaton also, — two good 
men, if he will be led by them. All is going on well ; 
the magazine was carried by storm this moi'ning, with 
nominal loss, and our guns are knocking the fort and 
palace about. All the suburbs have been evacuated or 
taken. I have just ridden through them, and all the 
enemy's heavy guns have been brought into camp. In 
forty-eight hours the whole city, I think, with its seven 
miles of enceinte, will be ours ; our loss has been very 
heavy : 46 officers killed and wounded, 200 men killed, 
and 700 or 800 wounded. 

September 17th. — All is going on well, though slowly ; 
the Sepoys still occupy a portion of the city, and are 
being gradually driven backwards, while the palace and 

ing could be steadier, nothing more soldierlike, than their bearing. 
Lieutenant Hodson commanded a corps raised by himself, and he is a 
first-rate officer, brave, determined, and clear-headed.-" 



SLOW PROGRESS IN THE CITY. 335 

fort are continually played upon by shell and shot ; not 
above 3,000 or 4,000 of the rebel troops remain in the 
city. Head-quarters are there, and I am going down 
immediately to take up rny quarters with the staff. I 
expect to-morrow will see the last of it, but there is no 
calculating with anything like certainty on the proceedings 
of these unreasoning wretches. I am thankful to say 
Nicholson is a little better to-day, and there appears some 
hope of his recovery, though a very slight one. Mr.' 
Colvin is dead : another celebrity taken away in this 
time of trial. The home mail of the lOth of August 
has arrived, but bi'ought no letters for me as yet, but veiy 
few have arrived in all. The Government at home seem 
at last awaking to a sense of the importance of this crisis 
in Indian affairs. 

September 18th. — There is nothing worth speaking of 
doing here. We are still shelling the fort and palace, 
but as slowly, alas, as possible. I am writing in great 
haste, in order to go down and see my " intelligence " 
people. Some of the enemy are trying negotiation. I 
only hope they may find it is too late, and that we may 
pursue and destroy the wretches whom we have to thank 
for so much barbarity and bloodshed. 

September Idth. — We are making slow progress in 
the city. The fact is, the troops are utterly demoralized 
by hard work and hard drink, I grieve to say. For the 
first time in my life I have had to see English soldiers 
refuse repeatedly to follow their officers. Greville, Jacob, 
Nicholson, and Speke were all sacrificed to this. We 
were out with all the cavalry this morning on a recon- 
naissance, or rather demonstration, for some miles, and 
got a wetting for our pains ; however, rain at tliis season 
is too grateful to be complained of. 



336 CAPTURE OF THE ROYAL FAMILY. 

September 20th. — I have been much shocked (even fa- 
miliar as I have become with death) by poor Greathed's * 
sudden death yesterday from cholera ; the strongest and 
healthiest man in camp snatched away after a few hours' 
illness. Sir T. Metcalfe also is very ill with the same 
cruel disease ; what a harvest of death there has been 
during the past four months, as if Avar was not sufficiently 
full of horrors. The rebels have fled from the city in 
thousands, and it is all but empty ; only the palace is still 
occupied, and that we hope to get hold of immediately, 
and so this horribly protracted siege will be at an end at 
last, thank God. None but those who fought through the 
first six weeks of the campaign know on what a thread 
our lives and the safety of the Empire hung, or can ap- 
preciate the sufferings and exertions of those days of 
watchfulness and combat, of fearful heat and exhaustion, 
of trial and danger. I look back on them with a feeling 
of almost doubt whether they were real or only a foul 
dream. This day will be a memorable one in the annals 
of the Empire ; the restoration of British rule in the East 
dates from the 20th September, 1857. 

In the Rotal Palace Delhi, September 22c?. — 
I was quite unable to write yesterday, having had a bard 
day's work. I was fortunate enough to capture the King 
and his favorite wife. To-day, more fortunate still, I 
have seized and destroyed the King's two sons and a 
grandson (the famous, or rather infamous, Abu Buki'), 
the villains who ordered the massacre of our women and 
children, and stood by and witnessed the foul barbarity ; 
their bodies are now lymg on the spot where those of the 
unfortunate ladies were exposed. I am very tired, but 
very much satisfied with my day's work, and so seem all 

* Hervey H. Greathed, Commissioner and Political Agent. 



GENERAL WILSON'S DESPATCH. 337 

hands. We were to have accompanied the movable 
column, but to-day it is counter-ordered, and we remain 
here.* 

September 23d. — When shall I have time to write 
really a letter ? It seems as if I were each day doomed 
to fresh labor and worry, and I long to shake oif the 
whole coil, and go where I can find repose and peace. 
Fortunately, my health stands the wear and tear, and 
as my success has been great I must not grumble. . . . 
I came to camp this morning to see after the march of a 
detachment of my regiment which is ordered, after half 
a dozen changes, to accompany a movable column which 
is ordered to proceed towards Agra to-morrow. I am to 
remain here, and to tell the truth, the business is so mis- 
managed that I have ceased to care whether I go or stay. 
I fancy they find me too useful here. We move down 
bodily to or near the town to-morrow, and everything is 
in confusion and bustle. 

September 24:th. — Brigadier Grant, like dear Sir 
Henry Lawrence, (though both married men themselves,) 
says that soldiers have no business to marry ; under the 
idea that anxiety for their wives' welfare and safety often 
induces men to hesitate to run risks which they would 
otherwise cheerfully undergo. I, on a less selfish princi- 
ple, question very much whether men have any right to 

* Extract from the Despatches of General Wilson on the Fall of 
Delhi. 

" Delhi, Sept. 22d, 1857. 

" I beg also to bring veiy favorably to notice the officers of the 
Quartermaster-General's Department, . . . and Captain Hodson, 
who has performed such good and gallant service with his newly 
raised regiment of L'regular Horse, and at the same time conducted 
the duties of the Intelligence Department, under the orders of the 
Quartermastei--General, with rare ability and success." 
15 



338 CAVALRY "DEMONSTRATION." 

expose their wives to such misery and anxiety as during 
the last few months have fallen to the lot of so many ; 
and yet it seems hard to say that soldiers, who have so 
much to endure at times for the sake of others and of 
their common country, should be denied the happiness of 
manned life, because times of danger will sometimes oc- 
cur, and certain I am that the love of a noble-hearted 
woman nerves one's ai"m to daring and to honor. Happy, 
however, is the woman whose husband is not a soldier. 
Really the rumors which travel about are too 
ludicrous, though hardly more so than those which take 
rise and are actually believed in camp. 

The true account of the cavalry " demonstration " is 
this : on the morning on which the city and palace were 
finally evacuated (19th), the whole of the available caval- 
ry (not otherwise employed) moved out through the sub- 
urbs in the direction of, though not on the road to, the 
Kootub, but with strict orders not to go under fire ! Well, 
we all marched out to the top of the hill on which stands 
the " Eedgah," and thence, from a safe and respectful 
distance, overlooked the camp of the Bareilly and Nus- 
seerabad force, under " General " Bukt Khan, quondam 
Subadar of artillery. While minutely examining the 
camp through my glass (I was with Brigadier Hope 
Grant, to show the way), I perceived, by unmistakable 
signs, that it was being evacuated. Shortly after a loud 
explosion showed that they were blowing up their ammu- 
nition previous to a flight ; these signs were on the mo- 
ment confirmed by the arrival of my " Hurkaras " (mes- 
sengers), and I immediately got leave to go and tell the 
General. I did so, galloping down along the front of the 
city to see if that was quite clear. I then asked leave to 
go down through the camp, and see what was really the 



PURSUIT OF THE PRINCES. 339 

state of the case ; and Macdowell and I started with 
seventy-five men, and rode at a gallop right round the 
city to the Delhi gate, clearing the roads of plunderers 
and suspicious-looking objects as we went. We found the 
camp as I had been told, empty, and the Delhi gate open ; 
we were there at 11a. m. at latest, and it was not until 
2 p. M. that the order was given for the cavalry to move 
out, and they were so long about it, that when at sunset 
Macdowell and I were returning, (bringing away three 
guns left by the enemy, and having made arrangements 
and collected camels for bringing in the empty tents, &c.,) 
we met the advance-guard coming slowly forward in 
grand array ! We had been on to the jail and old fort, 
two or three miles beyond Delhi, and executed many a 
straggler. I brought in the mess plate of the 60th Na- 
tive Infantry, their standards, drums, and other things. 
Macdowell and I had been for five hours inside the Delhi 
gate, hunting about, before a guard was sent to take 
charge of it. 

The next day I got permission, after much argument 
and entreaty, to go and bring in the King, for which 
(though negotiations for his life had been entertained) no 
provision had been made and no steps taken, and his 
favorite wife also, and the young imp (her son) whom he 
had destined to succeed him on the throne. This was 
successfully accomplished, at the expense of vast fatigue 
and no trifling risk.* I then set to work to get hold of 
the villain princes. It was with the greatest difficulty 
that the General was persuaded to allow them to be 
interfered with, till even poor Nicholson roused himself 
to urge that the pursuit should be attempted. The Gen- 
eral at length yielded a reluctant consent, adding " but 
* Vide p. 342 for more detailed account. 



340 CAPTURE. 

don't let me be bothered with them." I assured him it 
was nothing but his own order which " bothei-ed " him 
with the King, as I would much rather have brought him 
into Delhi dead than living. Glad to have at length 
obtained even this consent, I prepared for my dangerous 
expedition. Macdowell accompanied me, and taking one 
hundred picked men, I started early for the tomb of 
the Emperor Huraayoon, where the villains had taken 
sanctuary. I laid my plans so as to cut off access to 
the tomb or escape from it, and then sent in one of the 
inferior scions of the royal family (purchased for the 
purpose by the promise of his life) and my one-eyed 
Moulvie Rujub Alee, to say that I had come to seize the 
Shahzadahs for punishment, and intended to do so, dead 
or alive. After two hours of wordy strife and very anx- 
ious suspense, they appeared, and asked if their lives had 
been promised by the Government, to which I answered 
" most certainly not," and sent them away from the tomb 
towards the city, under a guard. I then went with the 
rest of the sowars to the tomb, and found it crowded with, 
I should think, some 6,000 or 7,000 of the servants, hang- 
ers-on, and scum of the palace and city, taking refuge in 
the cloisters which lined the walls of the tomb. I saw at 
a glance that there was nothing for it but determination 
and a bold front, so I demanded in a voice of authority 
the instant surrender of their arms, &c. They immedi- 
ately obeyed, with an alacrity I scarcely dared to hope 
for, and in less than two hours they brought forth from 
innumerable hiding-places some 500 swords, and more 
than that number of fire-arms, besides horses, bullocks, 
and covered carts called " Ruths," used by the women 
and eunuchs of the palace. I then arranged the arms 
and animals in the centre, and left an armed guard with 



SHOOTING OF THE KING'S SONS. 341 

them, while I went to look after my prisoners, who, with 
their guaixl, had moved on towards Delhi. I came up 
just in time, as a large mob had collected, and were turn- 
ing on the guard. I rode in among them at a gallop, and 
in a few words I appealed to the crowd, saying that these 
were the butchers who had murdered and brutally used 
helpless women and children, and that the Government 
had now sent their punishment : seizing a carabine from 
one of my men, I deliberately shot them one after an- 
other. I then ordered the bodies to be taken into the 
city, and thrown out on the " Chiboutra," in front of the 
Kotwalie,* where the blood of their innocent victims still 
could be distinctly traced. The bodies remained before 
the Kotwalie until this morning, when, for sanitary rea- 
sons, they were removed. In twenty-four hours, there- 
fore, I disposed of the principal members of the house 
of Timur the Tartar. I am not cruel, but I confess I 
did rejoice at the opportunity of ridding the earth of these 
wretches. I intended to have had them hung, but when 
it came to a question of " they " or " us," I had no time 
for deliberation. 

September 2Ath. — The picture di'awn from the usu- 
ally mendacious reports at Simla, is not even founded on 
fact. The women of the palace had all escaped before 
the troops entered. 

The troops have behaved with singular moderation 

* It was on this spot that the head of Gooroo Teg Bahadoor had 
been exposed by order of Aurnngzebe, the Great Mogul, nearly 200 
years before. The Sikhs considered that in attacking Delhi they 
were "paying off an old score." A prophecy had long been currenf 
among them, that by the help of the white man they should reconquer 
Delhi. After this they looked on Captain Hodson as the " avenger of 
their martyred Gooroo," and were even more ready than befoi'e to 
follow him anywhei'e. 



342 NICHOLSON. 

towards women and children, considering their provoca- 
tion. I do not believe, and I have some means of know- 
ing, that a single woman or child has been purposely 
injured by our troops, and the story on which your right- 
eous indignation is grounded is quite false ; the troops 
have been demoralized by drink, but nothing more. 

September 2oth. — ... I miss Colonel Seaton terribly, 
we have lived in the same tent for months, and had be- 
come brothers in affection as well as in arms. I mourn 
deeply for poor Nicholson ; with the single exceptions 
of my ever-revered Sir Henry Lawrence, and Colonel 
Mackeson, I have never seen his equal in field or coun- 
cil ; he was preeminently our " best and bravest," and 
his loss is not to be atoned for in these days. I cannot 
help being pleased with the warm congratulations I re- 
ceive on all sides for my success in destroying the ene- 
mies of our race ; the whole nation will rejoice, but I am 
pretty sure that however glad will be at their de- 
struction, he will take exception to my having been the 
instrument, in God's hands, of their punishment. That 
will not signify, however ; I am too conscious of the 
rectitude of my own motives to care what the few may 
say while my own conscience and the voice of the many 
pronounce me right. 

A fuller account of the capture of the King will 
be found in a letter addressed to me shortly after- 
wards, and published by me in the Times, which 
I now reprint : — 

" I have before explained to you what your brother's 
(Captain Hodson's) position officially was, — namely, that 
he was appointed Assistant Quartermaster- General and 
Intelligence Officer on the Commander-in-Chief's own 



HODSON'S POSITION. 343 

Staff. His reports were to be made to him direct, with- 
out the intervention of the Quartermaster- General or any 
other person. 

" For this appointment, which was then a most respon- 
sible one, as intelligence of the enemy's movements and 
intentions was of the utmost importance, his long acquaint- 
ance with Sikhs and Affghans, and his having been simi- 
larly employed in the Punjaub war, had peculiarly fitted 
him. Of course, there were always plenty of traitors in 
the enemy's camp ready to sell their own fathers for gain, 
or to avoid punishment, and he was invested with full 
power to promise reward or punishment, in proportion to 
the deserts of those who assisted him. 

" On our taking possession of the city gate, reports 
came in that thousands of the enemy were evacuating 
the city by the other gates, and that the King also had 
left his palace. We fought our way inch by inch to the 
palace walls, and then found truly enough that its vast 
arena was void. The very day after we took possession 
of the palace, (the 20th,) Captain Hodson received in- 
formation that the King and his family had gone with a 
large force out of the Ajmere Gate to the Kootub. He 
immediately reported this to the General commanding, 
and asked whether he did not intend to send a detach- 
ment in pursuit, as with the King at liberty and heading 
so large a force, our victory was next to useless, and we 
might be besieged instead of besiegers. General Wilson 
replied that he could not spare a single European. He 
then volunteered to lead a party of the Irregulars, but 
this offer was also refused, though backed up by Neville 
Chamberlain. 

" During this time messengers were coming in con- 
stantly, and among the rest one from Zeenat Mahal, (the 



344 NEGOTIATIONS FOR SURRENDER OF KING. 

favorite Begum,) with an offer to use her influence with 
the King to surrender on certain conditions. These con- 
ditions at first were ludicrous enough — viz : that the King 
and the whole of the males of his family should be 
restored to his palace and honors ; that not only should 
his pension be continued, but the arrears since May be 
paid up, with several other equally modest demands. I 
need not say these were treated with contemptuous denial. 
Negotiations, however, were vigorously carried on, and 
care was taken to spread repoi'ts of an advance in force 
to the Kootub. Every report as it came in was taken to 
General Wilson, who at last gave orders to Captain Hod- 
son to promise the King's life and freedom from personal 
indignity, and make what other terms he could. Captain 
Hodson then started with only fifty of his own men for 
Humayoon's Tomb, three miles from the Kootub, where 
the King had come during the day. The risk was such as 
no one can judge of, who has not seen the road,* amid 
the old ruins scattered about of what was once the real 
city of Delhi. 

" He concealed himself and men in some old buildmgs 
close by the gateway of the Tomb, and sent in his two 
emissaries to Zeenat Mahal with the ultimatum, — the 
King's hfe and that of her son and father (the latter has 
since died). After two hours passed by Captain Hodson 
in most trying suspense, such as (he says) he never spent 
before, while waiting the decision, his emissaries (one an 

* " At a shoi't distance, about a mile before reaching the tomb, the 
road passes under the Old Fort, — a strong tower, commanding the 
road on two sides, in which the King and his party first took refuge 
on their escape from Delhi. This was filled with his adherents, 
and it was a moment of no small danger to Hodson and his little 
troop, when passing under it on his way out to the tomb, any stray 
shot from the walls might have laid him low." — Note by a Friend. 



SURRENDER OF THE KING. 345 

old favorite of poor Sir Henry Lawrence,) came out with 
the last offer — that the King would deliver himself up 
to Captain Hodson only, and on condition that he repeated 
with his own lips the promise of the Government for his 
safety. 

" Captain Hodson then went out into the middle of the 
road in front of the gateway, and said that he was ready 
to receive his captives and renew the promise. 

" You may picture to yourself the scene before that 
magnificent gateway, with the milk-white domes of the 
Tomb towering up from within, one white man among a 
host of natives, yet determined to secure his prisoner or 
perish in the attempt. 

" Soon a procession began to come slowly out, first 
Zeenat Mahal, in one of the close native conveyances 
used for women. Her name was announced as she 
passed by the Moulvie. Then came the King in a palkee, 
on which Captain Hodson rode forward and demanded 
his arms. Before giving them up, the King asked 
whether he was ' Hodson Bahadoor,' and if he would 
repeat the promise made by the herald ? Captain Hod- 
son answered that he would, and repeated that the Gov- 
ernment had been graciously pleased to promise him his 
life, and that of Zeenat Mahal's son, on condition of his 
yielding himself prisoner quietly, adding very emphati- 
cally, that if any attempt was made at a rescue he would 
shoot the King down on the spot like a dog. The old 
man then gave up his arms, which Captain Hodson 
handed to his ordei'ly, still keeping his own sword drawn 
in his hand. The same ceremony was then gone through 
with the boy (Jumma Bukh) ; and the march towards 
the city began, the longest five miles, as Captain Hodson 
said, that he ever rode, for of course the palkees only 

15 * 



346 SELECTION OF SWORDS. 

went at a foot pace, with his handful of men around them, 
followed by thousands, any one of whom could have shot 
him down in a moment. His orderly told me that it was 
wonderful to see the influence which his calm and un- 
daunted look had on the crowd. They seemed perfectly 
paralyzed at the fact of one white man (for they thought 
nothing of his fifty black sowars) carrying off their King 
alone. Gradually as they approached the city the crowd 
slunk away, and very few followed up to the Lahore gate. 
Then Captain Hodson rode on a few paces and ordered 
the gate to be opened. The officer on duty asked simply 
as he passed what he had got in his palkees. ' Only the 
King of Delhi,' was the answer, on which the officer's 
enthusiastic exclamation was more emphatic than be- 
comes ears polite. The guard were for turning out to 
greet him with a cheer, and could only be repressed, on 
being told that the King would take the honor to himself. 
They passed up that magnificent deserted street to the 
palace gate, where Capt. Hodson met the civil officer (Mr. 
Saunders), and formally delivered over his Royal prison- 
ers to him. His remark was amusing, ' By Jove ! Hodson, 
they ought to make you Commander-in-Chief for this.' 

" On proceeding to the General's quarters to report his 
successful return, and hand over the Royal arms, he was 
received with the characteristic speech, ' Well, I'm glad 
you have got him, but I never expected to see either him 
or you again ! ' while the other officers in the room were 
loud in their congratulations and applause. He was re- 
quested to select for himself from the Royal arms what 
he chose, and has therefore two magnificent swords, one 
with the name of ' Nadir Shah,' and the other the seal 
of Jehan Gire engraved upon it, which he intends to 
present to the Queen. 



LETTER OF MACDOWELL. 847 

" On the following day, as you already know, he cap- 
tured three of the Princes ; but of this more hereafter. 
I am anxious now that you should fully understand that 
your brother was bound by orders from the General to 
spare the King's life, much against his own will ; that the 
capture alone was on his own risk and responsibility, and 
not the pledge." * 

I am allowed to insert here a most graphic let- 
ter, written by Lieut. Macdowell, 2d in command 
of Hodson's Horse : — 

" On the morning of the 19th we formed up and saw 
the townspeople coming in thousands out of the Delhi 
gate (still in the enemy's possession), and passing thi'ough 
their camp, taking the high road to the Kootub. Too 
far off to do any damage, we waited (the ground a mass 
of hard rocks, impracticable for cavalry) till 9 A. m., and 
then retired. Hodson, my commanding officer, then 
went to the General, and at ten I received a note from 
him, ' Gallop down with fifty men and "meet me at the 
Cashmere gate as sharp as possible.' Down I went, and 
he told me he had volunteered to ride through the ene- 
my's camp and reconnoitre ; that no one knew if they 
were there in force or not, and he asked me if I would 
accompany him. Of course I was only too glad, and off 
we went. They fired at us as we approached, from gar- 

* All the notice taken of this remarkable exploit in Major-General 
Wilson's despatch of September 22d, was, — 

" The King, who accompanied the troops for some short distance 
last night, gave himself up to a party of Irregular Cavalry whom I 
sent out in the direction of the fugitives, and he is now a prisoner 
under a guard of European soldiers." 

We may well remark on this anonymous version, " id maxime for- 
midolosum, pi-ivati hominis nomen supra principis attolli." — Ed. 



348 DRINKING THE QUEEN'S HEALTH. 

dens and places all round, but I imagine they thought 
more men were coming, and bolted, we (only fifty of us) 
cutting up all their stragglers to the tune of some fifty or 
sixty. As we came back we intercepted a whole lot of 
townspeople escaping. Well, I must not linger on this. 
Having done our work (and it wasn't a bad thing to do, 
to gallop through their camp with fifty men, not knowing 
whether they were there or not), we cautiously ap- 
proached the Delhi gate. It was open, but all was silent. 
Our troops had not as yet ventured so far. Afar off we 
heard the firing in the city in other quarters ; leaving 
our men outside, with four Sowars behind us with cocked 
carabines, we rode in, holding our revolvers ready for a 
row. Not a soul was there ; all still as death. I looked 
round, and close to where I was sitting were two bottles 
of beer amidst a heap of plate, silver, clothes, &c. Per- 
haps I didn't jump off sharp ! It was all right ; real 
beer ! madam ; we uncorked, and drank the Queen's 
health at once. After a little time, as the firing ap- 
proached, and we found all was right, we rode away, and 
reported what we had done. The General was very 
pleased. 

" And now for my great adventure. On the 20th the 
King gave himself up, and was lodged securely in Delhi 
under a guard. On this day all had evacuated the place, 
of which we were complete masters. On the 21st a note 
from Hodson, ' Come sharp, bring one hundred men.' 
Off I went, time 6 o'clock A, m. To explain why he 
wrote to me, I must tell you that although he commanded 
the regiment, he was also the head of the Intelligence 
Department, and lived in the General's quarters, while I 
lived with the regiment, commanding it in his absence, 
as being second in command. Well, down I went. He 



SURRENDER OF THE PRINCES. 349 

told me he had heard that the three Princes * (the heads 
of the rebellion and sons of the King) were in a tomb 
six miles off, and he intended going to bring them, and 
offered me the chance of accompanying him. "Wasn't it 
handsome on his part ! Of course I went ; we started 
at about eight o'clock, and proceeded slowly towards the 
tomb. It is called Humayoon's Tomb, and is an immense 
building. In it were the princes and about 3,000 Mus- 
sulman followers. In the suburb close by about 3,000 
more, all armed, so it was rather a ticklish bit of work. 
"We halted half a mile from the place, and sent in to say 
the princes must give themselves up unconditionally, or 
take the consequences. A long half hour elapsed, when 
a messenger came out to say the princes wished to know 
if their lives would be promised them, if they came out. 
'Unconditional surrender,' was the answer. Again we 
waited. It was a most anxious time. We dared not 
take them by force, or all would have been lost, and 
we doubted their coming. "We heard the shouts of the 
fanatics (as we found out afterwards) begging the pi-inces 
to lead them on against us. And we had only one hun- 
dred men, and were six miles from Delhi. At length, 
I suppose, imagining that sooner or later they must be 
taken, they resolved to give themselves up uncondition- 
ally, fancying, I suppose, as we had spared the King, we 
would spare them. So the messenger was sent to say 
they were coming. We sent ten men to meet them, and 
by Hodson's order I drew the troop up across the road, 
ready to receive them, and shoot them at once if there 
was any attempt at a rescue. Soon they appeared in a 
small ' Ruth ' or Hindostanee cart drawn by bullocks, 
five troopers on each side. Behind them thronged about 
* Called Shahzadahs. 



350 HUMAYOON'S TOMB. 

2,000 or 3,000 (I am not exaggerating) Mussulmans 
We met them, and at once Hodson and I rode up, leav 
ing the men a little in the rear. They bowed as we 
came up, and Hodson, bowing, ordered the driver to 
move on. This was the minute. The crowd behind, 
made a movement. Hodson waved them back ; I bec- 
koned to the troop, which came up, and in an instant 
formed them up between the crowd and the cart. By 
Hodson's order I advanced at a walk on the people, who 
fell back sullenly and slowly at our approach. It was 
touch and go. Meanwhile Hodson galloped back, and 
told the sowars (10) to hurry the princes on along the 
road, while we showed a front and kept back tlie mob. 
They retired on Humayoon's Tomb, and step by step 
we followed them. Inside they went up the steps, and 
formed up in the immense garden inside. The entrance 
to this was through an arch, up steps. Leaving the men 
outside, Hodson and myself (I stuck to him throughout), 
with four men, rode up the steps into the arch,* when he 
called out to them to lay down their arms. There was a 
murmur. He reitei^ated the command, and (God knows 
why, I never can understand it) they commenced doing 
so. Now you see we didn't want their arms, and under 
ordinary circumstances would not have risked our lives 
in so rash a way, but what we wanted was to gain time 
to get the princes away, for we could have done nothing, 

* " When within the inclosure, Hodson observed the balcony rest- 
ing on the Ai-chway of Ingress filled with the followers of the royal 
party, many with arms. Facing it, he looked up calmly, pointed his 
carabine, and said, ' The first man that moves is a dead man.' The 
effect was instantaneous. Not a hand was raised, and by the glance 
of that eye, and eff'ect of that voice, every disposition to interfere by 
word or deed was quelled." — Note by a friend, wlio afterwards visited 
Humayoon's Tomb in company with Lieut. Macdowell. 



IDENTIFICATION OF THE PRINCES. 351 

had they attacked us, but cut our way back, and very 
little chance of doing even this successfully. Well, there 
we stayed for two hours, collecting their arms, and I 
assure you I thought every moment they woiild rush 
upon us. I said nothing, but smoked all the time, to 
show I was unconcerned ; but at last, when it was all 
done, and all the arms collected, put in a cart, and start- 
ed, Plodson turned to me and said, ' We'll go, now.' Very 
slowly we mounted, formed up the troop, and cautiously 
departed, followed by the crowd. We rode along quietly. 
You will say, why did we not charge them ? I merely 
say, we were one hundi'ed men, and they were fully 
6,000. I am not exaggerating ; the official reports will 
show you it is all true. As we got about a mile off, Hod- 
son turned to me and said, ' Well, Mac, we've got them 
at last ; ' and we both gave a sigh of relief. Never in 
my life, under the heaviest fire, have I been in such im- 
minent danger. Eveiybody says it is the most dashing 
and daring thing that has been done for years (not on 
my part, for I merely obeyed orders, but on Hodson's, 
who planned and carried it out). Well, I must finish my 
story. We came up to the princes, now about five miles 
from where we had taken them, and close to Delhi. The 
increasing crowd pressed close on the horses of the sowars, 
and assumed every moment a more hostile appearance. 
' What shall we do with them ? ' said Hodson to me. ' I 
think we had better shoot them here ; we shall never get 
them in.' 

" We had identified them by means of a nephew of the 
King's whom we had with us, and who turned King's evi- 
dence. Besides, they acknowledged themselves to be the 
men. Their names were Mirza Mogul, the King's nephew 
and head of the whole business ; Mirza Kjshere Sulta- 



352 EXECUTION OF SHAHZADAHS. 

met, who was also one of the principal rebels, and had 
made himself notorious by murdering women and chil- 
dren ; and Abu Bukt, the commander-in-chief nominally, 
and heir-apparent to the throne. This was the young 
fiend who had stripped our women in the open street, and 
cutting off little children's arms and legs, poured the 
blood into their mothers' mouths ; this is literally the 
case. There was no time to be lost; we halted the 
troop, put five troopers across the road behind and in 
front. Hodson ordered the Princes to strip and get again 
into the cart ; he then shot them with his own hand. So 
ended the career of the chiefs of the revolt, and of the 
greatest villains that ever shamed humanity. Before 
they were shot, Hodson addressed our men, explaining 
who they were, and why they were to suffer death ; the 
effect was marvellous, the Mussulmans seemed struck 
with a wholesome idea of retribution, and the Sikhs 
shouted with delight, while the mass moved off slowly 
and silently. One of the sowars pointed out to me a 
man running rapidly across a piece of cultivated ground, 
with arms gleaming in the sunlight. I and the sowar 
rode after him, when I discovered it was the King's favor- 
ite eunuch, of whose atrocities we had heard so much. 
The sowar cut him down instantly, and we returned, well 
satisfied that we had rid the world of such a monster. 
It was now four o'clock ; Hodson rode into the city with 
the cart containing the bodies, and had them placed in 
the most public street, where all might see them. Side 
by side they lay where, four months before, on the same 
spot, they had outraged and murdered our women. I 
went quietly home with the troop, nearly dead, having 
had nothing (except water) since six o'clock the previous 
night. I have not time to write you of my subsequent 



CAPTIVE KING. 353 

adventures, but will next mail. We have gained a great 
deal of Kvdoc for this business, and I hear are to be re- 
warded in some way or other." 

Some months later my brother wrote with ref- 
erence to this matter : — 

Camp, on the left bank of the Ganges, 

OPPOSITE CawNPOKE, 

Feb. nth, 1858. 
... I see that many people suppose that I had prom- 
ised the old King his life after he was caught. Pray 
contradict this. The promise was given two days before, 
to induce him to leave the rebel troops and return to 
the near neighborhood of Delhi within reach. General 
Wilson refused to send troops in pursuit of him, and to 
avoid greater calamities I then, and not till then, asked 
and obtained permission to offer him his wretched life, on 
the ground, and solely on the ground, that there was 
no other way of getting him into our possession. The 
people were gathering round him. His name would 
have been a tocsin which would have raised the whole of 
Hindostan, and the Rajahs and Rajpootana in the south 
would have been forced to have joined in the rising, 
which would then have been universal. Was it not 
better to get rid of all this, and secure ourselves from 
further mischief at the simple cost of sparing the life of 
an old man of ninety ? It must be remembered, too, that 
we had no troops left to meet any further augmentation 
of our enemies. A small force under Colonel Greathed 
was with difficulty found, some days later, to go towards 
Agra ; and it was clear to me then (as experience has 
since shown) that we had still months to wait for rein- 
foi'cements from home. Hei'e is February ; the King 



354 BLAMED FOR SPARING THE KING. 

was caught in September, and yet up to this pi-esent day 
the Commander-in-Chief has not been able to send a 
single soldier of all that have arrived from England up 
as far as Delhi; and all Rohilcund, all Oude, a great 
part of Central India, all Bundelcund, and most of 
Behar, are still in the hands of the enemy. Would it 
have been wise to have given, in addition to all this, so 
strong an incentive to combination, to the warlike men of 
the northwest, as they would have had in the person of 
a sacred and " heaven-born " monarch, dethroned, wan- 
dering, and homeless, but backed by a whole array in 
rebellion ? I am blamed for it now ; but knowing that 
there was no other way of getting him into our power, I 
am quite content to take the obloquy. It will hereafter 
be admitted that one of the greatest blows was struck at 
the root of the rebellion when the old King was led a 
captive into his own palace on the 21st of September, 
1857.* Strange, that some of those who are loudest 
against me for sparing the King, are also crying out at 
my destroying his sons. " Quousque tandem ? " I may 
well exclaim. But in point of fact, I am quite indifferent 
to clamor either way. I made up my mind at the time 
to be abused. I was convinced I was right, and when I 
prepared to run the great physical risk of the attempt, I 
was equally game for the moral risk of praise or blame. 
These have not been, and are not times when a man who 

* From Me. Montgomery, now Chief Commissioner of Oude. 

" Sept. 29tk. 

"My dear Hodson, — All honor to you (and to your 'Horse') 
for catching the King and slaying his sons. I hope you will bag many 
more ! In haste, 

" Ever yours, 

" R. Montgomery." 



DEFENCE OF PRINCES' EXECUTION. 355 

would serve liis country dare hesitate as to the personal 
consequences to himself of what he thinks his duty. 

I am indebted to Sir T. Seaton for an answer 
to inquiries addressed to my brother, which never 
reached him : — 

" I see you are anxious to clear up the two ' vexed 
questions :' — Why did he guarantee the life of the King ? 
Why did he strip the princes ? He guaranteed the life 
of the King, because he was ordered to do so by General 
Wilson ; and I think that under the circumstances it was 
wise and prudent (though highly distasteful to the Gen- 
eral), for it enabled us to get hold of the nominal head of 
the great rebellion, and to secure the capture of those 
greater scoundrels, the princes. No one ever thought 
out here of asking why he stripped the princes, or rather 
why he made them take off their upper garments. It 
certainly was not as the French stupidly assert, ' pour ne 
pas gater le butin,' for if the upper corresponded with 
the nether clothes in which the bodies were laid out, they 
would have been dear at a shilling the lot. He made 
them strip off their upper garments, to render their death 
and subsequent exposure at the Kotwalla more impres- 
sive and terrible. Some people ask, ' Why did he shoot 
them himself ? ' To this I will reply by another ques- 
tion, ' What would have been the effect on that vast 
crowd of a single moment's hesitation or appearance of 
hesitation ? ' " 

Before this chapter closes, I will insert one or 
two anecdotes and descriptions of my brother, 
from letters written at this time by officers before 
Delhi, which have been kindly placed at my dis- 



35G DESCRIPTION OF CAPTAIN HODSON. 

posal. They will help to fill up the picture of 
him, which may be drawn from his own diary. 

One says : — 

" The way Hodson used to work was quite miraculous. 
He was a slighter man and lighter weight than I am. 
Then he had that most valuable gift, of being able to get 
refreshing sleep on horseback. I have been out with him 
all night following and watching the enemy, when he has 
gone oif dead asleep, waking up after an hour as fresh 
as a lark ; whereas, if I went to sleep in the saddle, the 
odds were I fell off on my nose. 

" He was the very perfection of a ' free-lance,' and 
such an Intelligence Officer ! He used to know what the 
rebels had for dinner in Delhi. 

" In a fight he was glorious. If there was only a good 
hard skrimmage he was as happy as a king. A beautiful 
swordsman, he never failed to kill his man ; and the way 
he used to play with the most brave and furious of these 
rebels was perfect. I fancy I see him now, smiling, 
laughing, parrying most fearful blows, as calmly as if he 
were brushing off flies, calling out all the time, ' Why, 
try again, now,' ' What's that ? ' ' Do you call yourself a 
swordsman ? ' &c. 

" The way that in a pursuit he used to manage his hog- 
spear was miraculous. It always seemed to me that he 
bore a charmed life, and so the enemy thought. 

" His judgment was as great as his courage, and the 
heavier the fire or the greater the difficulty, the more 
calm and reflecting he became." 

Another (Sir T. Seaton) : — 

" You know that, during the whole of the terrible siege 



HIS AFFECTION FOR HIS WIFE. 357 

of Delhi, we lived together in the same tent, and, except- 
ing while on duty, we were never separate. It was there 
I saw, in all their splendor, his noble soldierly qualities ; 
never fatigued, never downcast, always cool and calm, 
with a cheerful countenance and a word of encourage- 
ment for every one. 

*' I used often to say, ' Here, Hodson, is somebody 
else coming for comfort.' 

" It was there I learned the depth and intensity of his 
affection for his wife ; like the man, it was out of the 
common. You know how he nursed me when I was 
wounded. I am indebted for my rapid recovery, in a 
very great measure, to his care and forethought ; and it 
was whilst lying helpless and feeble I saw that the brave 
and stern soldier had also the tenderness of a woman in 
his noble heart. His constant care was to prevent Mrs. 
Hodson from feeling any anxiety that he could save her ; 
so that, whenever he went out on any expedition that 
would detain him beyond twenty-four hours, he invaria- 
bly asked me, and I used to make it my duty, to write to 
Mrs. Hodson daily, accounting for his absence and giving 
such details as I could of his doings. 

" He was ever ready to carry out my wishes and aid 
me with his best knowledge, skill, and courage. He sup- 
ported me with the devotion of a brother ; never, never 
shall I see his Uke again." 

Another says : — 

" He has wonderful tact in getting information out of 
the natives, and divining the movements of the enemy. 
He is scarcely out of the saddle day or night, for not only 
has he to lead his regiment and keep the country cleai", 
but being Intelligence Officer, he is always on the move 



358 NOTICES OF CAPTAIN HODSON. 

to gain news of the progress of affairs, and acts and 
intentions of the enemy. 

" Even when he might take rest he will not, but will 
go and help work at the batteries, and expose himself 
constantly, in order to relieve some fainting gunner or 
wounded man." 

I have this anecdote from another : — 

"In the camp at Delhi, when the incessant fatigue to 
which the soldiers were exposed forbade the strict en- 
forcement of the continual salute, it was remarked that 
Hodson never passed down the lines without every man 
rendering to him that mark of respect. The soldiers 
loved him as their own. ' There goes that 'ere Hodson,' 
said a drunken soldier as he cantered down the lines ; 
* he's sure to be in everything ; he'll get shot, I know he 
will, and I'd a deal rather be shot myself; we can't do 
without him.' " 

I venture to quote from Mr. H. Greathed's Let- 
ters (published by his widow) some further notices 
of my brother : — 

" Hodson keeps an Argus eye on the rear and left 
flank, and is always ready for an adventurous ride. I 
am not surprised at Gough liking him ; he has a rare gift 
of brains as well as of pluck ! The uniform of his men, 
' khakee ' tunics, with a scarlet sash and turban, is very 
picturesque. 

" Hodson certainly the most wide-awake soldier in 
camp. 

" A charge of cavalry was turned by a few musket shots 
from a party under Hodson, who always turns up in mo- 
ments of difficulty." 



NOTICES OF CAPTAIN HODSON. 3o9 

Again, speaking of him while absent at Roh- 
tuckj August 19th : — 

" We have no further intelligence from Hodson. He 
is employed on just the wild work he likes, and will be 
loth to return. The public still amuses itself with giving 
his regiment new names, ' the Aloobokharas ' and ' Ring- 
tailed Roarers ' are the last I have heard of. 

. . . . " There was some alarm yesterday about Hod- 
son's safety. I cannot say I shared the feeling, I have 
such confidence in his audacity and resource. 

. . . . " Hodson is quite safe, he will now return to 
camp, and after being in for an hour, he will be seen 
looking as fresh, clean-shaved, and spruce, as if he had 
never left it." 



CHAPTER IV. 

OPERATIONS IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD OF DELHI. 

SHOWERS'S COLUMN. SEATON'S COLUMN. GUNGE- 
REE. PUTIALEE. MYNPOOREE. RIDE TO COM- 

MANDER-IN-CHIEP'S CAMP. JUNCTION OF FORCES. 

SHUMSHABAD. 

Camp, Delhi, Sept. IQth. 
Mt letters are of necessity short and newsless, for I am 
scarcely ever able to sit down to write what can be prop- 
erly called a letter. Anything so mismanaged as the 
prize property has been, or so wasted, I never saw ; so 
much so, that I look upon the appointment of prize agents 
at all as a simple injustice to the army, i. e., to the officers. 
Colonel Seaton has given up the prize agency in disgust, 
and I refused it altogether ; he is taking you a real trophy 
from Delhi, no less than the turquoise armlet and signet 
rings of the rascally princes whom I shot ; not actually 
worth twenty shillings, but I know they will be prized by 
you and the dear ones at home. Tombs declares I shall 
get a C. B. for capturing the King, &c., and, between 
ourselves, I ought to have anything they can give me, for 
it was a fearful risk, and, I must say, the " General's " 
share in it was about as meritorious as his recognition of 
the service was gracious ! but you will see he will get the 
reward ; but never mind, 1 did my duty, perhaps some- 



CAPTURE AND ESCAPE OF ROYAL FAMILY. 361 

thing more, and have got the reward of my own con- 
science, and certainly the voice of the army, as the hero 
of this " crowning mercy," as they call it. 

We march to-morrow instead of on the 20th, as we 
ought to have done, to clear out some of the hordes at 
Humayoon's Tomb. I disarmed them when I took the 
princes, and collected all the arms, &c., into one spot, 
leaving as large a guard as I could spare, and yet the 
" General " has actually never sent until to-day to reUeve 
the one or secure the other, and now only at my urgent 
representation ! We shall be back from our expedition 
in four or five days. Colonel Showers commands. 

Camp, Humayoon's Tomb, Sept. 28th. — I have been 
out all day and at work, varied by divers summonses 
from the Brigadier, and by such very amusing duties 
as packing off the royal family's lower branches into 
Delhi. 

Poor Greatbed ! he was, indeed, a loss to every one ! 
With the column sent out here (to complete with 1,500 
men the work of which I had overcome all the difficul- 
ties with 100), a young civilian was sent to carry on 
political duties, and take charge of the different mem- 
bers and hangers-on of the Royal family. In an hour I 
had got possession of the persons of seven of the remain- 
ing sons and grandsons of the King who were " wanted ; " 
they were made over, according to orders, to this civilian, 
and, two hours afterwards, all had escaped ! In conse- 
quence of this we are halted here, and parties sent out in 
all directions to recapture the fugitives. 

I shall try to get down in the Oudh direction to join 
Napier and his chief. 

I confess I am much gratified by the congi-atulations I 
I'eceive on all sides regarding the capture of the King 

16 



362 REWARD. 

and the retribution on the Shahzadahs ; but I expect no 
reward, perhaps not even thanks. The Government will 
be delighted at the fact, but will perhaps pretend a reluc- 
tance to the judgment having been effected, which they 
certainly do not feel, and will probably throw all the onus 
on me. To tell the truth (in spite of all the praises and 
prophecies of the army), I expect nothing by this cam- 
paign but my brevet majority, and that was due to me for 
the Punjaub war. 

The execution of the princes could be hardly called 
one of " unresisting " enemies, since they were surrounded 
by an armed host, to whom we should have been most 
unquestionably sacrificed if I had hesitated for an instant. 
It was they or we, and I recommend those who might 
cavil at my choice to go and catch the next rebels them- 
selves ! The King was very old and infirm, and had 
long been a mere tool, a name in the hands of the Shah- 
zadahs, Mirza Mogul in particular ; moreover, the orders 
I received were such that I did not dare to act on the 
dictates of my own judgment to the extent of killing him 
when he had given himself up ; but had he attempted 
either a flight or a rescue, I should have shot him down 
like a dog ; as it is, he is the lion without his claws, now 
his villanous heii'-apparent is disposed of. I must be 
prepared to have all kinds of bad motives attributed to 
me, for no man ever yet went out of the beaten track 
without being wondered at and abused ; and so mai-ked a 
success will make me more enemies than friends, so be 
prepared for abuse rather than reward ; for myself I 
do not care, and I am proud to say that those whose opin- 
ion I value most highly think I did well and boldly. 

Camp neak the Kootub, Sept. 29th. — We got here 
so late to-day, that, before our tents were pitched and 



RESIGNATION OF INTELLIGENCE DEPARTMENT. 363 

washing and breakfast over, the time to close our dak has 
arrived. Tlianks for letters, which are balm to my 
wounded spirit, vexed as I am to find that even here, 
in the field, working as I have done, and successful as I 
have been, I am not safe from the malignant influence of 

and his myrmidons. From the day that he put 

into power at Delhi, I experienced a difficulty never 
found before in cari-ying on my duties, and a system of 
backbiting and insinuation which could never have ex- 
isted, if it had not been encouraged, if not engendered, 
by listening to. This meanness et id gemis omne has 
commenced, and has decided me on the course you have 
so long urged, namely, to give up the Intelligence De- 
partment. 

I have done quite enough to establish my name in the 
army, and as much as one man can do. We return to 
Delhi, I hope, to-morrow, for we have done little enough 
by leaving it. The other column, which went out across 
the Jumna, has had an engagement with the enemy at 
Bolundshui', and thrashed them soundly. This will open 
the road to Cawnpore. I shall write to Napier to-day, 
to see if he can get my regiment sent towards Oudh, or 
anywhere near him. 

Camp, Delhi, Oct. \st. — I was quite unable to write 
yesterday, as we did not return here and get under cover 
till after dark. I have to march again to-morrow towards 
Rewarree with another column under Brigadier Showers, 
a most gentlemanly person and gallant soldier, but sadly 
prolix and formal in all his arrangements, thereby spin- 
ning out an ordinary march to the dimensions of a day's 
journey. I am sorry to say my unlucky ankle gives me 
more pain and annoyance than before, and the doctors 
tell me it will never be better until I give it perfect rest ; 



364 YEARNINGS FOR HOME. 

and as this said rest is perfectly impossible, I must bear 
it as patiently as I can ; but it is a sad drawback to my 
comfort and activity. 

You will rejoice with me that the detachment (of Hod- 
son's Horse) under Hugh Gough, who were sent with 
the column across the Jumna, behaved extremely well in 
that action at Bolundshur, and have been much praised. 
I am very glad, indeed, of this ; it is a great thing for a 
new regiment to be successful at a cheap rate in its first 
few encounters ; it gives a prestige which it is long in 
losing, and gives the men confidence in themselves and 
their leaders. In this affair our loss was trifling, though 
the cavalry were principally employed. Poor Sarel, 9th 
Lancers, wounded severely, I am sorry to say. I fancy 
loe go to Goorgaon and Eewarree. Whether we see the 
enemy is doubtful, and it may be merely a "military 
promenade," to settle the minds of the inhabitants. I 
long to get down towards Outram, and Oudh, and Napier. 

I am so glad you have written home, for I was out of 
the way when the " Overland mail " left, and we none of 
us knew of its being dispatched. It was a sad fatality 
which attended the two last, both from and to England. 
England ! How the writing the very name even fills me 
with sweet home memories and home longings ; and 
though, during the last five years and three quarters, my 
life has been more blessed than I ever dreamed it possi- 
ble that life could be, still there are times, and they in- 
crease in frequency, when my heart yearns for all its 
dear earlier ties. Yes, we must get home next year, 
somehow, even if we have to live on barley bannocks. 

I, and most other people, considered that I and my 
party had a right to all we found on the King and 
princes ; but the General, to whom I referred the ques- 



ROYAL ARMS. 365 

tion, thought otherwise ; so I gave up all except some of 
the personal arms of the princes (those of the King were 
taken by the General). The swords which I secured, 
thanks to the officers assembled when the arms were 
made over, are historically most valuable. One was 
worn by, and bears the name of, Jehangire, and the other 
is stamped with the seal of Nadir Shah ! They are sin- 
gular and interesting trophies, or rather relics, of the 
house of Timour the Tartar. 

Delhi, Oct. 2d. — I have remained behind the force 
for a day, in order to settle the business and pay up and 
discharge my Intelligence Establishment. I am so busy 
that my letter will of necessity be a short one. My hav- 
ing been out in camp has prevented my getting at the 
peojjle and officers, who are all in the city and palace. 
We, that is, the cavahy, artillery, and some infantry, are 
outside on the glacis of the city, and much pleasanter it 
is, I think ; especially as I have good shelter under the 
roof of an old mosque in a serai, where we can all put up 
together without jostling. I feel quite a free man now. 
I have no work to do but my regiment ; though, truth to 
tell, that is quite enough for one man, even with so able 
and willing an assistant as Macdowell. I do not reckon 
on much fighting where we are going, and the weather is 
now getting very tolerable. The country we are going 
into is also much healthier than Delhi, and I expect 
much benefit from the change of air and quiet marching. 
After our return I shall get away, if but for a week ; 
and then ray anxiety is to join Napier, wherever he 
may be. 

Delhi District, Oct. 3d. — I was yesterday four coss 
from BuUnagurh, and the Rajah actually came out in his 
carriage ; yet I had strict orders not to interfere with 



306 GOORGAON. 

him, so the force marched off in another direction this 
morning without striking a blow, though the place was 
full of the Rajah's armed retainers and fugitive Pandies 
from Delhi, and they ought all to have been extermi- 
nated. The consequence is, he will give us trouble here- 
after.* To-day we struck off to the right to this place 
(marching at Brigadier Showers's favorite pace of six 
miles in five hours), and go on to-morrow through Goor- 
gaon to a place called Rewarree, where one Toll Ram, a 
farmer of Government revenue in better times, but who 
now " affectionates " independent authority, has collected 
a force round his fortlet of some 4,000 to 5,000 men, and 
shows fight ; but again I opine we shall have a tedious 
march for our pains. I grieve daily in all bitterness for 
poor Nicholson's death. He was a man such as one 
rarely sees ; next to dear Sir Henry, our greatest loss. 

Camp, Goorgaon, Oct. Ath. — Even the camp before 
Delhi (so long our abode that I write it mechanically) 
was more favorable for letter-writing than our present 
more peaceful but more moving life. We started at 
three a. m. and arrived here about nine. I had then to 
go through the village or town with the Brigadier, and 
it was noon before we got a tent pitched and breakfast 
ready ; before I had finished I was summoned by Show- 
ers to give him some information as to some " Moofsids ; " 
and now at two p. m., though I am still unwashed and un- 
shorn, I am ordered to be ready at three with a party to 
proceed to punish some refractory villages a few miles off. 
I shall be back, I trust, at dark, to dinner and bed, for 

we march again at midnight. Tell the swords I 

have kept ai-e beautiful, and historically most valuable. 

* So he did, but ultimately gave himself up, and was hanged by 
the authorities in Delhi. — Ed 



PATHONDHEE. 367 

It was like parting with my teeth to give up those to the 
General ; I should not have cared so much if he had 
done anything towards the winning them. It will be 
something hereafter to wear a sword taken from the last 
of the House of Timour, which had been girt round the 
waists of the greatest of his predecessors ; if I ever part 
with it, it shall be " in a present," as mine O. would say, 
to our good Queen ! She ought to give me her own 
Cross for it ; and that's a fact, though I say it ! 

Oct. 5th, 3 A. M. — We got back last night at dark, from 
our visit of retribution to Dholkote, having "polished oflP" 
a goodly number of rebels from Irregular Cavalry Regi- 
ments, and others who came out armed to the teeth, and 
making great demonstration of attack, but turned of 
course when we charged. Had we not absurdly been 
sent out in the afternoon, instead of morning, so that it 
got too dark for work, we should have cleared the place 
entirely. I had a most kind letter of congratulation from 

yesterday. He seems very ill, poor fellow ! How 

thankful I am that my health stands work so well ; not 
that I do not feel it ; and it will tell more still some day. 
I question whether there is a single one of us, however 
strong or unwounded, whose constitution does not pay for 
the Siege of Delhi. The weather is getting very pleas- 
ant, except in the middle of the day ; but what a contrast 
to the chmate of the Punjaub ! Many thanks to Lord 
"William for his oflPer of horses. I only wish I had the 
power of using them, but there is no chance, I fear, of my 
getting to Simla, though I may to Umbala. I hear Gen- 
eral Wilson has gone to Meerut, and General Penny 
come to Delhi in his stead. 

Pathondhee, Oct. 5th, noon. — I add a few lines to 
my letter of this morning to say that all is safe and well. 



368 TOLI RAM. 

Nothing has occurred but a skirmish with our advanced 
guard and some Sowars of Toli Ram's, who came, I 
honestly believe, in all good faith, to bring an offer of 
submission ; but the business was bothered by mutual 
distrust, so they turned, fired at our advance, and bolted 
at speed, my men after them as hard as they could go. 
They brought back about a dozen horses whose riders 
they had disposed of ; very acceptable they are too, for 
" mounting " my men is my gi'eatest difficulty. We have 
made a good bag of the Irregular Cavalry rascals during 
the last few days, — among them a native officer of the 
9th Irregular Cavalry, who deserted at Delhi, (selling 
Chamberlain a pretty considerable bargain too,) was 
caught and shot. Seaton will rejoice at this. General 
Penny reigns at Delhi. 

There is no chance of my regiment being stationary 
this cold weather, I imagine, for the country is still in 
a very unsettled state, and will be so for a long time to 
come. 

Camp, Rewarree, Oct. Qth. — We arrived here, after 
a tediously protracted march, at eleven this morning, only 
to find my prediction verified, that the birds would be 
flown and the nest empty. Mr. Toli Ram bolted yester- 
day, and left only an empty fort and his guns behind him ; 
in good hands it would have given us considerable trou- 
ble, and he was evidently a clever fellow, and had adroitly 
and promptly contrived so as to be first in the field, should 
our power have ceased. We found extensive prepara- 
tions, and large workshops for the completion of military 
equipments of all kinds, guns, gun-carriages, gunpowder, 
accoutrements, and material of all kinds. He had al- 
ready done much, and in a couple of months his position 
would have been so strong as to have given him the com- 



TOLT RAM. 369 

mand of all the surrounding country, as well as the rich 
town and entrepot of Rewarree, close to the walls of his 
fort. Had our empire fallen, he would have mastered all 
the surrounding villages and districts, and probably ex- 
tended his power on all sides, and founded a " Raj " like 
that of Puttiala or Jheend, to fall in its turn before the 
(then) newly aroused energies of the Sikhs. At the same 
time he was prepai'ed, if we won the day, to profess that 
he had done all this solely in our interests, and to preserve 
the district for us from the Goojur population. This is 
now his line of defence. Showers yesterday sent to tell 
him that if he would come in and give himself up, as 
well as his guns and arms, he should be treated on his 
merits. This he would not do, and has eventually sealed 
his fate by bolting. The extent of his warlike prepara- 
tions is too obviously the result of his really hostile, than 
of his professedly friendly, intentions. I do not know 
where we go next ; back to Delhi, I trust, when I hope 
to find General Penny willing to forward my wishes by 
sending me on to join the army. It will spoil my new 
regiment to keep it on mere police duty. 

Camp, Rewarree, Oct. 1th. — We have been all day 
in the saddle, wandering about distant villages, but we 
did not see an enemy, and the inhabitants seemed very 
glad to see us, for the runaway rebels had plundered 
every place they passed through. The whole body of 
horsemen who were here up to tvi^o days before, fled in 
all directions when they heard of our approach, (though 
their numbers were immense, they say 7,000 to 8,000,) 
and now, ride where we will, in any direction for fifteen 
miles round Rewarree, not an armed man is to be seen. 

Only this morning we heard of the capture of Luck- 
now, dimmed by the death of General Neill. Are all 

16* 



370 DEATH OF NEILL. 

our victories to be purchased at the costly price of her 
best and bravest ? Even I, loving my profession as I do, 
a " soldier to the backbone," as Sir C. Napier used to say, 
sicken at the remembrance of the good and brave and 
noble who have fallen. Poor Neill ! he is a loss indeed. 
I trust our dear friend has escaped. I looked tremblingly 
through the list, and rejoiced to find the name of Napier 
not there. And now for matters of the lower (surely the 
lowest) world. I have drawn no pay either for the A. 
Q. M. Generalship or my regiment, except an advance of 
500^. for current expenditure. I have as yet been able 
to get no pay abstracts passed ; and, indeed, such is the 
confusion of all things, from the want of some central 
authority, that no one knows where, or by whom, we are 
to be paid ; so I have to draw money for my men " on 
account," to be settled hereafter ; as yet, however, I take 
care that it shall not exceed a third, or at utmost half 
their pay, to be safely within the mark. Men and horses 
cannot live on " nothing a day and find themselves," and 
any regular office-work is utterly impossible while we are 
kept so perpetually in the saddle. It is rather hard on a 
new regiment, " raised on service," — and a little hard on 
their commandant too, — but all will come straight in the 
end, I doubt not. I thought I mentioned that when we 
went to the Kootub the first time with Colonel Showers, 
I secured the rest of the King's sons and grandsons at 
Humayoon's Tomb ; but the whole were most discredita- 
bly allowed to escape by the young civilian sent out with 
the force ; or, as he says, by the Brigadier ; but it was 
his business, and not the Brigadier's. I also found out a 
lot of silver and money, worth, I should think, 20,000 or 
30,000 rupees, and 20 or 30 elephants ; all which goes 
to swell the prize money. We ought to have a good pro- 



PRIZE MONEY. 371 

portionate sum each, for thei'e has been an immense deal 
of property taken altogether, I should think ; but the 
want of care and management will lessen it considerably, 
As a specimen, — when Seaton was prize agent, (and 
they could not have found a better or more upright,) a 
quantity of property of all descriptions was brought in 
and put on the " chiboutra " in front of the house he was 
in. He immediately sent to ask the General either to 
appoint a place to stow it in, or for a guard to put over 
it. The answer was in General Wilson's usually brusque 
style. " He had no guard to spare, and Colonel Seaton 
must secure the property as he could." Colonel Seaton's 
reply was to resign the prize agency. He could not well 
do otherwise after this and other specimens. 

Oct. 8th. — I go on an expedition early to-morrow 
morning to some villages, and shall be too late back 
for writing. 

Oct. 11th. — Only three words to say that I am safe 
and well. I cannot ascertain whether we go back direct 
to Delhi, or by Jhujjur, to annex the Nawab's country. 
Everything is perfectly quiet here, and the weather is 
really cold in the mornings : we shall all improve by 
the change, though fever is very prevalent amongst the 
natives. The Europeans ai*e gaining strength daily. 

Camp, Jatoo Sana, Oct. 13th. — We shall be at 
Jhujjur, I believe, in a couple of days ; where part of 
General Cortland's force and the Jummoo troops will 
meet us, and they will, I fancy, be left in occupation, 
and we return to Delhi, where I hear a force under 
General Penny is to be foi'med to go towards Rohilcund. 
It is more than probable that we shall accompany him. 
If I am allowed to go to a station to form my regiment, 
I shall certainly try for Umbala. The bazaars at Mee- 



372 DADEEE. 

rut, Cawnpore, &c., are all destroyed, and I could get 
nothing I wanted. Here I am interrupted by an order 
to start on a " dour" which will keep us out till mid- 
night, if not longer. 

Oct. lAth. — My expectations of yesterday were ful- 
filled, and we did not return till midnight to dinner, 
having been in the saddle, without a halt, since 3 p. m. 
Some rascals had chosen to go and make free with the 
grain, &c., left behind in Toli Ram's fort at Rampoora, 
outside Rewarree, as soon as our last detachment had 
come away ; so I was sent back to disturb their opera- 
tions. Unfortunately Colonel Showers was too long in 
making up his mind to send us, and though we marched 
at the rate of more than seven miles in an hour, it was 
dark before we came up with the tail of the party, just 
as they were decamping with their booty ; so we only 
accounted for about thirty or forty. I was very weary, 
so stayed behind for a few hours' rest, the column having 
marched at 2 A. m. to Nahur, on the road to Dadree, 
where we are to be joined by a portion of General Cort- 
land's force, and the Dick Lawrence Invincibles from 
Rohtuck. We then move on Jhujjur, but not the small- 
est prospect of opposition, — all the masses of Raughur 
and other horsemen melting away at our approach. I 
have written to Chamberlain, as Adjutant- General, to get 
me a couple of months to collect, complete, and clothe 
the regiment. At all events, if we cannot be spared, 
I have begged that the whole regiment may be kept 
together, and not scattered piecemeal over the country, 
as it is now. 

Camp, Dadree, Oct. IQth. — The Jhujjur Nawab 
has, or Avill give himself up ; so not a shot will be fired, 
for all the sw^arms of Irregular Cavalry have dispersed 



"DIAMOND KINGS." 373 

to their homes, or rather to the hills and jangles, for 
shelter and security. Colonel Greathed's column has 
reached Agra, and there had a fight ; a regular surprise, 
— our peoj^le being attacked while at breakfast ! How- 
ever, the enemy were thoroughly thrashed eventually, 
and lost camp and guns. Poor French, of the Lancers, 
is the only officer whose name I have heard as killed. 
A report has reached me from Simla that you have 
got some magnificent diamond rings, &c., taken at Delhi. 
This is rather good, considering the only rings I sent you 
were the princes', and not worth twenty rupees altogether, 
and the only "diamonds" were in that little broach I 
bought from a sowar more than a month before Delhi 
was taken, — so much for the veracity of your good- 
natured friends at Simla ! It is too rich. I like Mac- 
dowell increasingly, — he is so thoroughly honest and 
gentlemanly, and brave as a lion. In Wise, too, I am 
fortunate ; and Wells is a fat, good-tempered, willing-to- 
work school-boy. We do very well indeed together, and 
I have profited by past experience, (and perhaps the 
natural result of increased age and knowledge of the 
world,) but things are very diiferent now and then. 

We were waked up at midnight, and got to our camp- 
ing ground at 11a. m., and there found neither tents nor 
breakfast. We march on to Jhujjur early to-morrow. 
The Nawab has made his submission, and we have 
nothing to do but receive it and move on. 

Camp, Kunound, Oct. l^th. — We left Dadree at 
1 A. M. yesterday, and marched ten miles to Jhujjur, 
found the force dispersed and fled, and took possession 
of the (very nice) fort, with heaps of guns and ammu- 
nition. My men were out after the fugitives till half- 
past ten. At noon we marched again (the 6th Dragoon 



374 PROSPECT OF JUSTICE. 

Guards and my regiment), under Colonel Custance, to 
Nahur, twenty-four miles, which we reached at sunset. 
At 3 A.. M. this morning we came on here, seventeen 
miles, and took one of the strongest forts I have seen, 
with fourteen guns, some very heavy ones, and five lacs 
of rupees, which, alas ! is to be considered Government, 
not prize property. I was only out of my saddle for one 
hour yesterday, from one in the morning till sunset, and 
then only to get some cold food under a tree ! But I 
am quite well and strong, much better than I was at 
Delhi; and as Colonel Custance and his officers are 
remarkably agreeable gentlemanlike people, we have 
had the most really pleasant days since leaving Delhi. 
The worst of this raid is that it takes me from all chance 
of getting away for a few days until our return. 

KuNOUND, Oct. 20th. — I have just had a very nice 
and welcome letter from , dated Calcutta, 5th Sep- 
tember. He had had a long talk about me with Mr. 
Talbot, who told him that General Anson's representa- 
tions had done much good, and that it was admitted on 
all hands that my exculpation in re the Guides was com- 
plete, and that no higher or more flattering testimonials 
were ever seen ; so that, please God, I shall be righted at 
last ; and Justice is all I want. I leave those who in- 
jured me to the punishment of their own conscience, and 
have no desire that their sins should be visited upon them 
more than that. God saw that I was too proud and 
happy at having gained the highest object of my worldly 
ambition, and so chastened me, that now mere earthly 
honors or success are becoming gradually of less impor- 
tance to me. To go home with an untarnished name, 
and to get the repose both of body and mind which 
hotne alone can give, is now the climax of my desires. 



SICK MEN AND HORSES. 375 

This is a very healthy country, but sandy, and, no 
doubt, at times fearfully hot; even to-day there is a hot 
wind blowing, and yet by midnight it will be freezing ! 

Camp, Kunodnd, Oct. ^Ist. — Another long day with- 
out a dak. I have " betwitted " Captain Trench, who 
has charge of the Post-office, for taking more care of 
himself than he does of us ; but of course he denies the 
soft impeachment in toto. I begin to despair of getting 
back to Delhi, as we do not march hence till the 23d, and 
even then it is uncertain in what direction we go. Au 
reste, I am not sorry as it is, for my men and horses were 
beginning to suffer. I had this morning thirty-eight men 
and forty-three horses sick ! If Captain Fenwick is still 
at Simla, will you ask him if he can get me one of the 
new pattern saddles he introduced into the 9th Irregular 
Cavalry ? I will gladly pay the cost and carriage, and 
thank him into the bargain. Saddles are my greatest 
difficulty in getting my regiment into order. I am doing 
tolerably in the way of horses, and gradually remounting 
the men, who came down badly horsed, with captured 
cattle. The swords also are better than they were, from 
the same source. My ankle gives me so much pain that 
I have been forced to take to a small pony to ride even 
about camp, so as to avoid walking even for fifty yards. 

Oct. 22c?. — We march to-night towards Rewarree, 
and shall get there on the 24th ; from thence a part goes 
to Goorgaon, and waits the arrival of the larger portion 
of the troops which are to go into the Mewattee country, 
and punish some rascals who have plundered the large 
town of Sonah. The Brigadier is planning a series of 
manoeuvres, by which he intends to surround and capture 
4,000 Mewattees. I shall be very much surprised if we 
see one of tliat interesting race ! 



376 SEPARATION OF REGIMKINT. 

I fear that if my men form part of the manoeuvring 
party, we shall not get to Goorgaon for six or seven days, 
or perhaps ten, but I hope for the direct route. In either 
case, as we shall do nothing, I would rather do it with as 
little fatigue to man and horse as possible. The detached 
state of this regiment is enough to ruin it. Three troops 
are at Agra, or thereabouts, under Hugh Gough ; the 
sick and depot at Delhi, and portions of five troops here ; 
but it seriously increases the difficulty of managing a 
totally new regiment, and it is hardly fair either to the 
men or to the commanding officer. I have remonstrated, 
but, I suppose, with very little effect, as I have had no 
answer. I trust, indeed, I may get all together and go 
towards Oudh. 

Oct. 23d. — To-day we still halt, and I hear a rumor 
that on our return we go on to Agra. My other troops 
are on their way to Cawnpore, so that, I think, there is 
every chance of my getting that way too. However 
personally I might wish to be quiet at Umbala for a 
time, I cannot ask not to be sent on one of two expedi- 
tions with the same end, and unquestionably for oicr best 
interests. Oudh, where Napier is in power, is the best 

field open. Tell he may unhesitatingly contradict 

the story about the rupees. It was born in Delhi, and 
was partly the cause of General Wilson's bad behavior 
to me ; the money, 60,000/., was brought to me late one 
night by the men, who had been desired (as Colonel 
Seaton will corroborate) to secure pi'ize property for him 
and the other agents. We marched at daybreak next 
morning, and I had only time to make it over to Mac- 
dowell to see it locked up in the regimental chest for 
safety before we started. When I returned, three or 
four days afterwards, a story had been circulated by the 



SLANDEROUS STORIES. 377 

native who had disgorged the coui, that I had kept the 
money for myself! Of course the very day I returned it 
was, with heaps of other things, made over to the agents. 
And so stories go in this world. The amount of petty 
jealousy excited by what my friends call my " successes " 
is beyond belief. The capture of the King and his sons, 
however ultimately creditable, has caused me more envy 
and ill-will than you would believe possible, but I have 
had too much experience of humanity, during the last 
few years, to care for envy now ; and, conscious as I am 
of my own rectitude of purpose at least, however I may 
err in judgment, I go on my way rejoicing. 

Camp, Patondhee, Oct. 21th. — I am indeed most 
humbly and earnestly grateful to the good God who has 
so mercifully spared * what was so infinitely more pre- 
cious to me than life itself; and I do feel how entirely 
our hearts should be filled with gratitude to Him for the 
bountiful mercies which we mutually and individually 
have experienced at His hands during the past year : 
the preservation of us both from such perils ; my reem- 
ployment in an honorable position ; my ability to do such 
good service to the country at such a crisis ; the preser- 
vation of health in such a time of exposure ; my beloved 
wife's power and will to tend the wounded, and succor 
the distressed ; my complete, though tardy, vindication 
from unjust charges ; my almost assured freedom from 
debt; — all these mercies are almost more than my full 
heart can bear, and I sink on my knees in humble grati- 
tude at the foot of His throne who has done such wonder- 
ful things for us. May He crown all other blessings by 
granting us a safe reunion. 

* Refen'ing to his wife's almost miraculous escape, when the horse 
on which she was riding fell over a precipice and was killed. — Ed. 



378 BUYING CATTLE. 

It will be seen by the foregoing letters that 
Hodson's Horse had, by this time, acquired such 
proportions that they admitted of being divided. 
One detachment, under Lieut. Gough, had been 
sent with Colonel Greathed's column towards 
Agra, and afterwards joined Sir Colin Camp- 
bell's force, and took part, with much distinc- 
tion, in the final relief of Lucknow by Sir Colin 
and Sir James Outram. 

The main body, with their commandant, ac- 
companied Brigadier Showers, and were of great 
service in anticipating the movements and cut- 
ting off the retreat of the flying enemy, as well 
as in scouring the country and bringing in sup- 
plies. Their rapidity of movement and dashing 
courage made them a terror to the rebel forces, 
who had, on more than one occasion, painful 
experience of the keenness of their sabres. 

In the coarse of the expedition, the forces of 
several rebel rajahs were defeated, their strong- 
holds captured, with many guns, and treasure 
amounting to 70,000/. taken, besides large quan- 
tities of cattle. 

On one occasion upwards of 1,700 head of 
cattle had been taken. When they were brought 
in. Brigadier Showers exclaimed, " Hang me ! 
what in the world am I to do with them ? It 
would take half my force to convoy them back 
to Delhi. I can't take them." On this Captain 
Hodson said, " Well, sir, will you sell them to 
me, and let me take my chance ? " " Willingly," 



" COW-HOUSE." 379 

said the Brigadier ; so the bargain was struck for 
two rupees a head. Captain Hodson sent them 
off, under charge of their drivers and two or 
three of his own sowars, to Delhi, where they 
arrived safely, and were of course sold at a large 
profit. 

The speculation turned out a good one, but 
the chances were against it. No one else, prob- 
ably, under the circumstances, would have run 
the risk, and the cattle would have been left 
behind. 

I mention this anecdote as showing that in 
small things as well as great my brother refused 
to acknowledge difficulties, and deserved the 
character given him of being the most " wide- 
awake " man in the army. Shortly afterwards 
he invested part of the proceeds in a house at 
Umbala, which happened to be then put up for 
a forced sale at a great depreciation. This con- 
sequently went among his friends by the name 
of the " cow-house." 

A short time before the return of the column 
to Delhi, he applied for a few weeks' leave, in 
order to join his wife, who had come down from 
Simla to Umbala. 

On November 3d he wrote to his sister from 
Umbala : — 

After nearly six months of separation, I was happy 
enough to get back here yesterday night, and find my 
wife well, and all but recovered from the effects of her 
frightful accident, the most wonderful escape, perhaps, 



380 PEOGRESS OF HIS REGIMENT. 

from imminent peril ever recorded. I take the first 
holiday I have had since the 15th May, to write a few 
lines to you, my dearest sister, to say what deep and 
real pleasure and comfort your letters bring to me, 
amidst danger and toil and fatigue ; and how cheering 
it is to feel that, come what may, I am sure of your 
loving sympathy and constant affection. I received 
yesterday your letter of the 4th May, and could not but 
be most forcibly struck with the contrast between my 
circumstances individually, and those of the country, 
then and now. No one will rejoice more than your- 
self at the sudden change, and at the tolerable success 
which has been permitted to my labors 

Nov. 15th. — Here my pen was arrested by the news 
that the mail was gone. In these days all regularity 
is set at defiance, and again we have been startled by 
a notice to send our letters within half an hour, and 
that, too, in the midst of preparation for a hurried re- 
turn to Delhi and Meerut, to rejoin my regiment. We 
inarch at once to join Sir Colin Campbell and the 
army assembling at Cawnpore for the reconquest of 
Lucknow. 

I am getting on famously with my regiment ; men 
of good family and fighting repute are really flocking to 
my standard, * and before the end of the year I hope 
to have 1,000 horsemen under my command. 

* A letter from Delhi, in October, says: — 

" The corps raised by that very gallant officer, Captain Hodson, is 
composed, more than anything we have hitherto had, of the old sirdars 
and soldiers of Rnnjeet Singh's time, in consequence of which, and 
the skill of their commander, they are already an extremely efficient 
corps. 

" I was talking this morning to a very independent looking Resal- 
dai', who seemed to be treated by his men much more as they do a 
European officer than is ever seen in our service, and who bore him- 



SEAT ON' S COLUMN. 381 

I had a letter the other day from , at Calcutta, 

from which I learn that at last the truth is beginning 
to dawn on the minds of men in power regarding me. 
They now say that my remonstrance will be placed on 
record for preservation, " not for justification, which it is 
fully admitted was not required," and that " no higher 
testimonials were ever produced." 

How much I have to be thankful for, not only for 
restored position and means for future distinction, but 
for safety and preservation during this terrible war, and 
for my dear wife's escape. 

You must not misunderstand my silence. I was com- 
pelled to leave the task of writing letters to Susie ; I had 
barely time to keep her assured of my safety from day 
to day. 

On the 2d December, " Hodson's Horse " were 
ordered to join a movable column under Colonel 
Thomas Seaton, C. B., proceeding down the 
country towards Cawnpore, in charge of an im- 
mense convoy of supplies of all kinds for the 
Commander-in-Chief's army. The convoy was 
calculated to extend over fifteen miles of road, — 
hackeries of grain, camels, elephants, horses, — 
and but 1,500 men and four guns to protect them 
aU. At Allygurh the forces, marching respective- 
ly from Delhi and Meerut, united on the 11th. 
On the following day Colonel Seaton, leaving 
the convoy under the protection of the guns of 

self as the inferior of no one, and I found that he had been long a 
colonel of artillery in Eunjeet Singh's service, and very openly went 
through the part he had taken against us in the revolt of 1849." 



382 FORCED MARCHES. 

the fort, proceeded by forced marches to look 
after some large parties of the rebel army who 
were encamped in the Doab. 

On the 10th, my brother wrote to his wife 
from 

Camp Somna, 14 miles from AUygurh, Dec. lOih. 

After four days of forced marches we joined the col- 
umn this morning, and march on to Allygurh to-morrow. 
"We have been quite out of the way of letters, both going 
and coming, until to-day. The " enemy," who were sup- 
posed to have been in our front at Khasgunge, have aU 
disappeared, and there seems to be no immediate pros- 
pect of our finding another. Alfred Light marched down 
with me from Meerut to this place, and now goes on with 
Colonel Seaton as orderly officer, I am glad to say. We 
have a frightful convoy and crowd, but I hope not for 
long. The head-quarter people. Colonels Keith, Young, 
Becher, and Congreve, are with us. It is said that our 
friend Napier is to be Adjutant-General of the army, — 
delightful, if true. I have only just got my tent up, and 
it is nearly dark, so I can only say that I am safe and 
well. 

Allygurh, Dec. 11th. — We arrived here early this 
morning, and I found Major Eld commanding and Arthur 
Cocks doing Commissioner. Everything perfectly quiet 
in the neighborhood, and no large gathering of Pandies 
anywhere near. There is a small party at Khasgunge, 
and I hope we may be lucky enough to find them, but I 
doubt their waiting for us. Meantime we are to march 
down the Trunk Road, halting here to-morrow. I can- 
not get over our parting, each separation seems a greater 
Avrench than the last. 



ALLYGURH. 383 

Of public news there is none, but one broad fact, that 
since the 12th ultimo no news have been received from 
Lucknow, and not a word even from Cawnpore since the 
2oth. This necessarily excites alarm, but still mj im- 
pression is, that though our people may be surrounded 
with a close cordon of disaffected and rebellious men, 
who cut off all communication, yet that any serious harm 
can happen to a force of 8,000 or 9,000 Europeans I will 
not readily believe. I have 596 sabres with me now, 50 
more coming from Delhi, besides the 140 with Gough, — 
not so bad that. 

Dec. 12th. — We hear to-day from Agra that the ladies 
and sick and wounded from Lucknow and Cawnpore 
have been sent down to Allahabad, and the Gwalior Con- 
tingent beaten. The Commander-in-Chief is at Cawn- 
pore, and ti'oops will be assembling there enough to put 
down all opposition, and open the road to Calcutta. We 
march to-morrow morning from hence, leaving the " itn- 
pedimenta " behind here until we can ascertain that the 
road is clear ; when it is so, all will move on. We have 
fifteen guns, mostly 9-pounders, with our small but com- 
pact force. Major Eld joins us with a part of his garri- 
son, and Colonel Farquhar brings 300 Belooches, 200 
Affghans, and two guns to our aid. We shall be 2,500 
fighting men, and the "fathers of rebels" will hardly 
stomach so much as that ! Colonel Seaton is doing ad- 
mirably, very firm and very wide awake ; so all will, I 
doubt not, go well. 

JuLALEE, Dec. 18th. — Your letter, inclosing our dar- 
ling sister's, found us lying in the dust, with a pea-soup 
atmosphere of fine sand all around, discussing hot tea and 
eggs, just as I had returned from a reconnoissance to the 
front, in virtue of my being the big eye and ear of the 



384 ENGAGEMENT AT GUNGEREE. 

camp The paragraph in the Lahore Chronicle was 

too absurd, and beneath my notice ; but to please you 
and Macdowell I consented to his saying anything he 
pleased on the subject. Naturally, I must err sometimes 
in judgment, even with prayer for my aid ; but I never 
swerve from my one and only aim, to do my duty as well 
and strictly as I can ; so the praise or blame of men 
affect me less than if I took public opinion and not con- 
science for my guide. But apropos of the newspapers, 
Arthur Cocks tells me that the Friend of India has apol- 
ogized for its strictures on my conduct in re the Shahza- 
dahs ; so let that satisfy you, for nothing I could write, or 
my friends for me, could ever be half so effectual as the 
Friend's voluntary amende. ...» I intended to have 
written much to-day, but I was waked at 3 A. M., marched 
soon after, and with the exception of the dusty breakfast 
(cheered by my letters), I was in the saddle till half-past 
2 p. M. Then regimental business, washed and dressed, 
then threw myself on my bed for half an hour till din- 
ner, after which we get to bed as soon as we can, and up 
again at 3 A. m., so there is not much time for what I 
want to do of private matters. There's a history of a 
day in camp. 

Camp, Gungeree, Dec. \Uh. — I have only time to 
say that I am safe and well, though we have had a hard 
fight. The enemy's cavalry, with three guns and some 
infantry, came on from Bilaram to meet us this morning 
after breakfast, — about 800 horsemen and a mob of 
foot, — but our guns soon stopped their progress, and 
then the Carabineers and Lancers charged straight down 
on them in the most magnificent style, capturing all three 
of their guns at a dash ! I grieve to say, however, that 
they paid most dearly for their splendid courage. All 



PUTTIALEE. 385 

their officers went clown. Captain Wardlaw, Mr. Hud- 
son, and Mr. Vyse, all killed, and Head, of the Lancers, 
badly wounded. The infantry were not engaged at all. 
We attacked their flying cavalry and footmen on the left, 
and made very short work of all we could catch. I lost 
a fine old Resaldar, our dear old friend Mohammed Reza 
Khan's brother. None of my officers hurt; but my 
horse (Rufus this time) got a cut.* 

Camp near Puttialee, 17th. — I have but time for 
one line again to say that " all's well." We have been 
on our horses for eleven hours ! The enemy had the 
boldness to await our arrival here in great force and 
partly intrenched. We attacked them soon after 8 A. ar., 
they firing aimlessly at us as we advanced, our guns com- 
ing into play with fine effect. I then dashed into their 
camp with my regiment, Bishop's troop of Artillery 
actually charging with us like cavalry fairly into their 
camp ! We drove them through camp and town, and 
through gardens, fields, and lanes, capturing every gun 
and all their ammunition and baggage. We pushed on 
for six or seven miles, and read them a terrible lesson. 
The Carabineers and my men alone must have killed some 
500 or 600 at least, all sowars and fanatics. We wound 
up by killing the Nawab, who led them on his elephant, 

* From Besjmtch from Colonel T. Seaton, C. B., to Major- 
Genekal Penny, Commanding at Delhi. 

" Khasgunge, Dec. 15th, 1857. 
" The General will see by the list of casualties, that Captain Hod- 
son's newly raised body of Horse was not backward, and rendered 
excellent sei'vice. It could not do less under its distinguished com- 
mander, whom I beg particularly to mention to the Major-General, as 
having on every possible occasion rendered me the most efficient ser- 
vice, whether in gaining information, reconnoitring the country, or 
leading his regiment." 

17 



386 EECONNOITRING AFTER ACTION. 

after a long chase and an ingenious struggle, in Avhich lie 
was fairly pulled out of his houdah. I am very tired, 
but delighted with our day's work on Seaton's account. 
We have captured thirteen guns and entirely dispersed 
the enemy. He ought to be made a K. C. B. for this.* 

PuTTiALEE, I'dth. — I have just returned from a twen- 
ty-five miles' ride recoiuioitring towards the ghats of the 
Ganges, and breakfasted al fresco at 1 ^ p. m. ; so I am 
not too fresh, as you may imagine, after the last few days 
of hard work and hard galloping. Colonel Seaton tells 
me that he wrote to you after our very successful action 
here. He does all his work so well and pleasantly that 
it is a pleasure to work under him. We have a very 
compact force and capital officers, so everything goes on 
smoothly and comfortably. The remnant of the gentry 
we thrashed here seem never to have stopped running 
since. Another party have, however, crossed over from 
Rohilcund, and are said to be coming our way. I only 
wish they may. 

Dec. 20th. — We march back to-morrow, and shall be 
at Etah on the Grand Trunk Road on the 24th, when the 
convoy will come on to rejoin us. I have ascertained 
that the result of our affair here has been to drive the 
whole of the rebels out of the country between this and 
Futtehgurh. 

From Etah we shall disperse the Mynpooree party, 

^ Extract from a Despatch from Lieutenant- Colonel T. Seaton, 
dated 

" Puttialee, Dec. 18th, 1857. 
"After the action at Gungeree I specially mentioned Captain Hod- 
son and his regiment. I can but repeat what I then said, and beg 
that the Major-General will be good enough to bring this officer, and 
his great and important services, to the special notice of the Com- 
maader-iu-Chief." 



KHASGUNGE. 387 

and then I think there will be no rebels left in the Doab 
save at Futtehgurh, and those the Commander-in-Chief 
will dispose of. 

Khasgunge, 23d. — The more we move in this direc- 
tion, the more do we realize of the satisfactory results of 
our expedition and our fight of the 17th. It really was 
a very complete affair, and had it been done under the 
eyes of the Commander-in-Chief, I should have been 
made a colonel. However, I can but admit that every 
disposition exists here to give me (perhaps more than) 
my due. To-day we have for the first time heard of the 
Commander-in-Chief's movements. He comes up in two 
columns, via the Grand Trunk Road, and via the Jumna 
towards Mynpooree. We shall be at the latter place on 
Christmas day, I hope, and clear out the remainder of the 
rebels who may still be lurking about the roads and vil- 
lages. We caught yesterday one of the rebel leaders, an 
old Resaldar, covered with honors, pension, and dignity 
by our Government ! These rascals are as impervious to 
gratitude as they are ignorant of truth. The neighbor- 
hood of Futtehgurh has brought vividly home to me the 
horrors committed, and the dreadful fate of poor Tudor 
Tucker, his wife, children, and the other victims, is ever 
before me ; it often recalls a sterner judgment when we 
feel inclined to spare. 

Etah, Dec. 24:th. — We got here after an eighteen 
miles' mai'cb, and hear that the Chief was to leave Cawn- 
pore "in a few days" from the 14th, and would move up 
the Grand Trunk Road with one column, sending another 
to skirt the Jumna. General Windham is said to be 
coming up to take the divisional command at Umbala. 

MuLLOWN, Christmas Day. — There seems a fatal- 
ity against our spending these anniversaries together ; but 



388 CAPTAIN WARDLAW. 

my heart is full of deep and earnest prayer for you and 
all my loved ones, and I try to hope that our next Christ- 
mas may be spent at home. 

We march to Kerowlee to-morrow, and shall be at 
Mynpooree on the 27th, there to halt for a few days, 
until the convoy is collected and we can hear from the 
Commander-in-Chief. We have just heard that Mayhew 
is the new Adjutant-General, and Norman, Deputy. This 
last is a splendid thing, and shows Sir Colin's determina- 
tion to put the right man in the right place, in spite of all 
the red tape and seniority systems in the world ! I can 
hear nothing of our dear friend Napier, but I suppose he 
is with Sir James Outram. 

Mynpooree, December 21th. — We have just returned 
from a sixteen miles' pursuit of the rebel force posted in 
front of this place. They only waited until the Horse 
Artillery guns opened on them, and then fled precipi- 
tately, so we had to ride hard to overtake them. They 
flung away their arms, and became simple villagers with 
astonishing rapidity ; it would have done credit to the 
stage. No one hurt but two of my sowars. We have 
got all their guns (six in number), and the Doab is clear 
now to Futtehgurh. 

Mtnpooree, December 2d>th. — The Commander-in- 
Chief had not left Cawnpore on the 16th, but was to do 
so very soon ; we hope to hear of him. Please send the 
inclosed notes to the ladies to whom they are addressed, 
and if they like to inclose me any miniature replies, I 
will take care they are safely forwarded to their hus- 
bands. 

Mynpooree, December 29<A. — I have spoken about 

poor Wardlaw's efi^ects, and Mrs. 's kind offer was 

accepted gladly ; but a reference to Meerut was neces- 



COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF'S CAMP. 389 

sary, and I have not yet had a final answer. Poor fel- 
low ! never was a more gallant charge than the last he 
led, and I agree with his brother officers that " a kinder 
friend, a more gallant soldier, and a better comrade, 
never stepped than George Wardlaw." Both his death 
and that of his comrade, Mr. Hudson, were perhaps un- 
necessary, — by which I mean that a better acquaintance 
with their enemy might have saved both. The foi^mer, 
after the charge, dashed single-handed — with a cheer — 
into a knot of matchlock-men waiting to receive him, and 
was shot dead instantly. Had he gathered together only 
half a dozen dragoons, he might have ridden over them. 
The other (Hudson) was shot by a wretched fugitive 
lying prostrate in a field. Not understanding their tac- 
tics, he rode up to him and halted, thus offiiring a fair 
mark for the villain's ready musket. He was a son of 
the ex-Railway King. 

Mtnpooree, December 80th, 6 A. M. — I am just 
starting for the Chief's camp, which is at or near 
Goorsahaigunge, some forty miles from hence. I am 
taking despatches from Colonel Seaton, and to see that 
the I'oad is clear. I hope to be back to dinner. Mac 
goes with me. 

Bewar, Grand Trunk Road, December Slst. — 
Yesterday, I rode with Mac to the Commander-in-Chief's 
camp. It was farther off than I had been led to believe, 
and I had to go fifty-four miles to reach him. I found 
him wonderfully fresh and well, and met with a most 
cordial and hearty welcome from him, General Mansfield, 
and, in fact, from all. Gough, Bruce, and Mackinnon, all 
fat and well. I was much pleased witli all I heard and 
saw ; the sight of the sailors and the Highlanders did my 
eyes and heart good. Such dear, wild-looking fellows as 



390 OPENING COMMUNICATION. 

these Jack-tai*s are, but so respectful and proper in con- 
duct and manner. Our dear Napier is wounded, I grieve 
to say, though, thank God ! not badly, and is left behind 
at Cawnpore. So I am gazetted a Captain at last ! All 
the letters, papers, and despatches relative to Delhi have 
been published, and I am again thanked in despatches by 
the Governor-General. . . . Sir Colin was very com- 
plimentary, and my men, under Gough, have won great 
distinction and universal praise. I rejoiced to see my 
old friend Norman in his proper place, the de facto Ad- 
jutant-General of the army ; and Hope Grant has done 
everything admirably. We Punjaubee cavalry folks are 
quite " the thing " just now .... We had a narrow 
escape yesterday from a party of the enemy crossing the 
road en route from the southward to Futtehgurh ; they 
attacked my sowars after we (Mac and I) had ridden on, 
and killed one of them, and wounded several. Coming 
back at night, we passed quite close to the enemy's 
bivouac, hearing their voices distinctly ; but by taking it 
quietly, and riding on soft ground, we got past unmolested 
and into Bewar (to which place Seaton moved up this 
morning) by 3 A. M., having dined with the Commander- 
in-Chief last evening. We had ridden ninety-four miles 
since six in the morning. I, seventy-two on one horse, 
my gallant Eufus. We astonished the head-quarter 
people not a little. 

I am again indebted to the pen of Lieutenant 
Macdowell, for a fuller account of the hairbreadth 
escape which he and my brother had in the course 
of this ride, in which they so gallantly and suc- 
cessfully opened communication between the two 
forces. 



DANGEROUS RIDE. 391 

" Camp, Bewak, Jan. 1st, 1858. 

"You know we took Mynpooree on the 27th. We 
halted that clay and the two following. On the night of 
the 29th, Hodson came into my tent, about nine o'clock, 
and told me a report had come in that the Commander- 
in-Chief had arrived with his forces at Goorsahaigunge, 
about thirty-eight miles from Mynpooree, and that he had 
volunteered to ride over to him with despatches, asking 
me at the same time if I would accompany him. Of 
course I consented at once, and was very much gratified 
by his selecting me as his companion. At 6 A. m. the 
next morning we started, with seventy-five sowars of 
our own regiment. I do not wish to enhance the danger 
of the undertaking, but shall merely tell you that since 
Brigadier Grant's column moved down this road towards 
Lucknow, it had been closed against all Europeans ; that 
we were not certain if the Commander-in-Chief's camp 
was at Goorsahaigunge (which uncertainty was verified, 
as you will see) ; and that, to say the least of it, there 
was a chance of our falling in with roving bands of the 
enemy.* 

" We started at 6 a. m., and reached Bewar all safe, 

* The following extract from a private letter of an artillery officer, 
describing the state of the roads, will give some notion of the danger 
of this ride: — 

" Mynpooree, December 2Qth. 

" Since the 20th of October, no letters have passed this road. 
The ' Kossids,' whose trade it is to carry letters through an enemy's 
comitry, would not and could not do it, and no wonder. At one 
place we saw a poor brute who had gone from us with a letter to the 
Chief, and had been caught b_y the rebels. He was hanging by the 
heels, had his nose cut off, had been made a target of, and roasted 
alive. 

" Pleasant fellows, these rebels, and worthy of all consideration." 



392 COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF'S CAMP. 

fourteen miles from our camp. Here we halted, and ate 
sandwiches, and then, leaving fifty men to stay till our 
return, pushed on to Chibberamow, fourteen miles farther 
on. Here we made another halt, and then, leaving the 
remaining twenty-five men behind, we pushed on by oui'- 
selves, unaccompanied, for Goorsahaigunge, where we 
hoped to find the Commander-in-Chief, On arriving 
there (a fourteen miles' stage), we found the Commander- 
in-Chief was at Meerun-ke-Serai, fifteen miles farther 
on. This was very annoying ; but there was no help for 
it, so we struck out for it as fast as we could, the more so 
as we heard that the enemy, 700 strong, with four guns, 
was within two miles of us. We arrived at Meerun-ke- 
Serai at 4 A. M., and found the camp there all right. We 
were received most cordially by all, and not a little sur- 
prised were they to hear where we had come from. 
Hodson was most warmly received by Sir Colin Camp- 
bell, and was closeted with him till dinner-time. Mean- 
while, I sought out some old friends, and amused myself 
with looking at the novel sight of English sailors em- 
ployed with heavy guns. I also went to see the High- 
landers, and magnificent fellows they are, with their bon- 
nets and kilts, looking as if they could eat up all the 
Pandies in India. A summons to the Commander-in- 
Chief's table called me away, and off I went to dinner, 
when I found Hodson seated by Sir Colin, and carrying 
on a most animated conversation with him. We had a 
very pleasant dinner, and at 8 p. m. started on our long 
ride (fifty-four miles) back. We arrived at Goorsahai- 
gunge all safe, and pushed on at once for the next stage, 
Chibberamow. When we had got half way, we were 
stopped by a native, Avho had been waiting in expectation 
of our return. God bless him ! I say, and I am sure you 



HAIRBREADTH ESCAPE. 393 

will say so too when you have read all. He told us 
that a party of the enemy had attacked our twenty-five 
sowars at Chibbei'amow, cut up some, and beaten back 
the rest, and that there was a great probability some of 
them (the enemy) were lurking about the road to our 
front. This was pleasant news, was it not ? — twenty 
miles from the Commander-in Chief's camp, thirty from 
our own ; time, midnight ; scene, an open road ; dramatis 
personce, two oflScers armed with swords and revolvers, 
and a howling enemy supposed to be close at hand. We 
deliberated what we should do, and Hodson decided we 
should ride on at all risks. ' At the worst,' he said, ' we 
can gallop back ; but we'll try and push through.' The 
native came with us, and we started. I have seen a few 
adventures in my time, but must confess this was the 
most trying one I had ever engaged in. It was a pierc- 
ingly cold night, with a bright moon and a wintry sky, 
and a cold wind every now and then sweeping by and 
chilling us to the very marrow. Taking our horses off 
the hard road on to the side where it was soft, so that the 
noise of their footfalls could be less distinctly heard, we 
silently went on our way, anxiously listening for every 
sound that fell upon our ears, and straining our sight to 
see if, behind the dark trees dotted along the road, we 
could discern the forms of the enemy waiting in ambush 
to seize us. It was indeed an anxious time. We pro- 
ceeded till close to Chibberamow. ' They are there,' 
said our guide in a whisper, pointing to a garden in a 
clump of trees to our right front. Distinctly we heard 
a faint hum in the distance ; — whether it was the enemy, 
or whether our imagination conjured up the sound, I 
know not. We slowly and silently passed through the 
village, in the main street of which we saw the dead body 
17* 



394 HAIRBREADTH ESCAPE. 

of one of our men lying stark and stiff and ghastly in 
the moonlight ; and on emerging from the other side, dis- 
missed our faithful guide, with directions to come to our 
camp, — and then, putting spurs to our horses, we gal- 
loped for the dear life to Bewar, breathing more freely 
as every stride bore us away from the danger now hap- 
pily past. We reached Bewar at about two o'clock a. m., 
and found a party of our men sent out to look for tis. 
Our troopers had ridden in to say they had been attacked 
and driven back, and that we had gone on alone, and all 
concluded we must fall into the hands of the enemy. 
We flung ourselves down on charpoys and slept till day- 
light, when our column marched in, and we received the 
hearty congratulations of all on our escape. What do 
you think of it ? The man whose information gave us 
such timely warning, and thereby prevented our galloping 
on, by which we should certainly have excited the atten- 
tion of the enemy, has been very handsomely rewarded, 
and obtained employment. 

" It apjjears from the reports afterwards received, that 
the party that cut up our men were fugitives from Eta- 
wah, where a column of ours, under General Walpole, 
had arrived. They consisted of about 1,500 men, with 
seven guns, and were proceeding to Futtypore. We rode 
in at one end of Chibbei'amow in the morning ; — they 
rode in at the other. They saw us, but we did not see 
them, as we were on unfavorable ground. Thinking we 
were the advanced guard of our column, they retired 
hastily to a village some two coss off. Meanwhile, Hodson 
and I, unconscious of their vicinity, rode on. They sent 
out scouts, and ascertained that only twenty-five of our 
sowars were in the village, upon which they resumed 
their march, sending a party to cut up our men, and, I 



SEATON'S LETTER. 395 

suppose, to wait for our return. All Hodson said when 
we were at Bewar, and safe, was ' By George ! Mac, I'd 
give a good deal for a cup of tea,' and immediately went 
to sleep. He is the coolest hand I have ever yet met. 
We rode ninety-four miles. Hodson rode seventy-two on 
one horse, the little dun, and I rode Alma seventy-two 
miles also." 

Colonel Seaton, in a letter written shortly after- 
wards to Mrs. Hodson, thus describes the anxiety 
he felt: — 

" Mahomedabad, Jan. 5ih. 

" Oh, what a fright I was in the night before we 
marched from Mynpooree. Your husband knew that I 
was most anxious to communicate with the Commander- 
in-Chief, and volunteered to ride aci'oss, and as Mr. Cocks 
said that he had most positive information that the Com- 
mander-in-Chief was at Goorsahaigunge, I consented. 
He started at daybreak, taking a strong party of his own 
regiment. 

" At sunset, one of his men returned, saying that he 
and Macdowell had left a party at Chibberamow, and 
ridden forward ; that the party had subsequently been 
surprised by the enemy, and cut up. 

" At first, this seemed most alarming, yet I had the 
greatest faith in his consummate prudence and skill. I 
knew Macdowell was with him, and I said to myself, ' If 
those two are not sharp enough to dodge the black fel- 
lows, why the d is in it.' But still I could not help 

feeling most uneasy, and saying, ' Oh, dear ! what should 
I say to his poor wife ! ' I did not sleep one wink all 
night. In the morning a sowar galloped in with a note 
from him. Oh, what a relief to my mind ! 



396 CAPTAIN HODSON. 

" The day before yesterday, we rode over together to 
the Commander-in-Chief's camp at Goorsahaigunge, and 
found he had moved on four miles beyond the Kalee 
Nuddee. We followed, and came in for the tail of a 
fight, as there were still some dropping shots. I was 
i-eceived with great cordiality by the Commander-in- 
Chief, and warmly congratulated on our successes. 

" Your gallant husband has now left me, and I find it 
most painful to part, for he is a warm friend and true 
soldier ; always ready with his pen, his sword, or his 
counsel at my slightest wish ; indeed, he often anticipated 
my wishes, as if he could divine what I wanted. I 
missed his cheerful manly face at my breakfast this morn- 
ing, and am not in a good-humor at all to-day." 

In a letter to England of the same date, my 
brother says : — 

At last, after twelve years' service, I am a Captain 
regimentally from the 14th September last ; poor Major 
Jacobs' death after the assault having given me my pro- 
motion, — dearly purchased by the death of such a man ! 
I have much to be thankful for, not only for the most 
unhoped-for escapes from wounds and death, but for the 
position I now occupy, and for the appreciation my work 
has received from those in power. My new regiment 
has done good service, and got much /cvdoc. 

On January 1, 1858, he writes to his wife from 

Camp, Bewar. — I must write a few lines on this 
jour de Van, though they will be but few, as we start 
shortly for the Commander-in-Chief's camp at Goorsa- 
haigunge, twenty-eight miles off, — the "we" means 
Colonel Seaton, Light, and myself I do hope it will 



NIGHT MARCH. 397 

then be decided when we are to join the Chief, which, for 
many reasons, I am most anxious to do. Macdowell 
wrote you a capital account of our expedition to Meerun- 
ke-Serai, which you will get before this reaches you. He 
is game to the backbone, but he has not the physical 
stamina for such an adventure as that. I am sorry to 
say I lost three of my men killed and four wounded, and 
my horse, saddle and bridle (English), were lost. I wish 

you could coax out of that horse he got of General 

Anson ; life and more than life sometimes depends on 
being well mounted. 

January Sd. — We did not get back from Goorsahai- 
gunge till two this morning, very weary and tired, and 
now comes an order, just as I am sitting down to write, 
for my regiment to march at once to join the Chief's 
camp near Futtehgurh ; so I am again reduced to the 
mere announcement that I am safe and well. I have just 
heard that the rebels have bolted from Futtehgurh. 

Futtehgurh, Ath January. — A night-march of 
twenty-five miles, tents up at 1 p. m., after which break- 
fast, and two interviews with the Chief and his staff, 
have not left me much daylight or time for the post. 
Futtehgurh was abandoned as I foretold, and our troops 
are all concentrating here, not a shot having been fired. 
We remain here a few days, but a few inglorious but 
needful burning expeditions will j^robably be all we shall 
have to do. Our dear friend Napier is recovered, or 
nearly so, from his wound. I hope he will join the 
Chief, who appreciates him as he deserves. 

January bth. — The anniversary of the most blessed 
event in my life again to be spent in absence. ... I see 
no chance just yet of any vigorous action by which the 
war might be concluded, and we released from this toil- 



398 BRIGADIER A. HOPE. 

some campaign. The Commander-in-Chief is tied by 
red tape, and obliged to wait the orders of Government 
as to where he is to go ! Are our rulers still infatuated ? 
You complain of the shortness of my letters, and with 
justice ; but the most important business, often the safety 
of the force, depends on my doing my duty untlinchingly. 
Colonel Seaton dines with me to-day to drink your health 
on this our day. I have spoken for Reginald * to come 
and do duty with him ; but I fear that " Seaton's fighting 
column " has sunk in the sea of this great camp, but I 
will do my best to get the dear boy down here. 

Qth. — We march to-day, with a brigade under Colonel 
Adrian Hope, on some punishing expeditions. I hope to 
return in three or four days, and where we go next is 
not known. Seaton has subsided for the present into 
the simple Colonel of Fusiliers, which seems hard enough 
after all he has done. I hope they will soon give him a 
brigade. 

Camp, Shumshabad, January 1th. — Here we are on 
the move again ! Colonel Hope's brigade, consisting of 
the 42d and 73d Highlanders, 2d Punjaub Infantry, a 
Royal Artillery battery, two guns Bengal FI. A., a squad- 
ron of Lancers, and half my men — a splendid little 
force with nothing to do I fear but pull down houses, the 
owners of which have all escaped. We are only a few 
miles from the place to which we pursued the enemy 
from Puttialee, and had Colonel Seaton been allowed to 
push on then, we should have caught and punished these 
rascals as they deserved. Brigadier Hope is a very fine 
fellow and a pleasant ; about my age, or younger if any- 
thing, though, of course, longer in the army. When he 

* Lieutenant R. Mitford, 3d Bengal Fusileers, now Adjutant of 
Hodson's Horse and V. C. 



MULES. 399 

knows more of India he will do very well indeed, I 
should think. Wise, Macdowell, Gough the younger, 
and a Mr. Cockerell, are with me. I can make out 
nothing of our probable plans, or rather of the Chief's. 
" Waiting for orders " seems to be the order of the day. 
If something is not speedily decided, the hot weather will 
be on us before our work is over, and this would tell ter- 
ribly on us all. 

Camp, Kaimgunge, January d>th. — We remain here 
to-morrow, and then return, I fancy, to head-quarters. I 
can bear up manfully against absence and separation 
when we are actually doing anything ; but when I see 
nothing doing towards an end, I confess my heart sinks, 
and my spirit hungers after rest. I should be very, very 
glad if dear Maynard would make up her mind to join 
you. It would be a real comfort to me to think that we 
had been able to do anything towards contributing to her 
peace or comfort. Independently of my sincere regard 
for her, she is her father's daughter, and I owe him too 
much gratitude and reverence not to desire to show it in 
every way to all of the name and blood of Thomason. 

'Ka.tsigv^ GrE, January 10th. — Our time has been taken 
up with riding about the country after Whippoorwills, 
which elude our search and grasp, the only consolation 
being fine exercise in a fine country. Will you ask 
Lord W. Hay whether, if the report of his going home 
be true, he will resell me the mules ? I should be most 
thankful to get them again, and twice the number ; they 
are much better for baggage than ponies, carry larger 
loads, and do not knock up so soon. 

Camp, Futtehgurh, January 12th. — We returned 
from our brief expedition this morning, not having effected 
much, though we frightened many, I have no doubt. I 



400 LONGING FOR HOME. 

was just talking to Colonel Hope (himself an old 60th 
man), about my dear good friend Douglas, when I got 
your letter inclosing his most welcome one. How re- 
joiced I shall be if he returns to India with his battalion ! 
I quite long to see him once more. . Indeed, as time goes 
on, old ties of affection and friendship seem to unite them- 
selves more intimately with newer and dearer ones, and 
my heart pines more and more for home and all which 
nought but home can give. 

FuTTKHGURH, January 14th. — I was unhappily so 
much delayed by a tedious review yesterday morning, 
and an interview with the Chief afterwards, that I did 
not get to my tent till after post-time, though I am thank- 
ful to say I found some very precious missives, — the 
dear girls' letters were a treat indeed, and gave me very 
real pleasure. I am beginning to hope that I shall have 
my previous services recognized ; for although I do not 
know that any record of the promise of a majority was 
down in Leadenhall Street, still Lord Dalhousie's prom- 
ise was distinct, and there is evidently every desire on 
our present Chief's part to do me justice. You ask 
about my position here, and do not quite understand how 
the safety of the camp can depend on my vigilance. 
This referred not to this camp, but to Colonel Seaton's 
(now at last a Brigadier), where I not only was Assist- 
ant Quartermaster-General, but had all the outposts to 
furnish. Here I am desired to continue rfiy intelligence 
business ; but there is another officer (Captain Bruce) 
actually in charge of the department. I suppose it is 
intended rather to employ me when detached from the 
main force, as the other day under Brigadier Hope. 
However, I am at present in charge of all in Captain 
Bruce's absence, and my continuing it or not depends 



BGIGADIER WALPOLE. 401 

very much on circumstances. Nothing can be kinder or 
more cordial than the Commander-in-Chief and General 
Mansfield. We seem destined to halt here at present ; 
half the day has been occupied in changing ground. So 
when one can't get one's tent pitched till 1 or 2 p. m., 
there is little time for writing for a post closing at 5, con- 
sidering that business and eating and washing have to be 
performed. I must try and write more to-night. 

Camp on the Ramgunga, January 15th. — I left off 
my last letter with a promised intention of writing more 
last night, but the result of dining with the Chief was, 
that I was kept up so late and had to rise so early that I 
was fain to carry my weary limbs to bed at once. We 
have been occupied all day in getting down here from the 
big camp at Futtehgurh some ten miles off, so that I am 
again perforce obliged to renew instead of fulfilling my 
promise. You will hear of me before this reaches you ; 
General Grant and Majors Norman and Turner having 
taken wing to Umbala for a few days. They have had 
no holiday since May, and heartily deserved one, though 
I must confess I did feel a little envious when I saw 
them off. What w^ould not I give for home once more ! 

We are hei'e to force a passage aci'oss the Raragunga, 
a confluent of the Ganges on the road to Bareilly ; but 
it does not follow that we shall go there when the passage 
is open. Brigadier Walpole commands, and we have 
enough troops to eat up Rohilcund ; whether we (^. e., 
my regiment) partake of the " finish " in Oude or not, no 
one can pretend to foretell. 

Colonel Becher will be at Umbala soon, on his way 
home. You will be kind to him I am sure, both be- 
cause you like him personally, and because he has been 
most kind and considerate to me. It was very ungra- 



402 EAMGUNGA. — DISCIPLINE. 

cious as well as ungraceful, that his name was not 
mentioned in the Despatches as it ought to have been ; 
but he is not the only one who has cause to complain of 
the " ungraciousness " of our Delhi General. 

Camp on the Ramgunga, January Ylth. — We are 
still in the same undignified attitude of looking at noth- 
ing and doing as little ; but the halt has been very useful 
to me in the way of getting through business, and I 
have hardly stirred from my table all day. The plun- 
dering propensities of some of my men have given me 
much occupation and annoyance, as I always feel that 
the ill-conduct of a regiment must more or less reflect 
on the officers. The rascals will not discriminate be- 
tween an enemy's property, which is fair game, and that 
of the villagers and cultivators of the soil. I have sev- 
eral times been obliged to bring them up with a sharp 
hand to save myself from discredit. I sent three sowars 
to-day to the Brigadier with evidence and proof enough 
to hang them, but he begged me to dispose of the matter 
summarily myself; but as I did not choose to be judge, 
jury, and hangman all in one, they saved their lives at 
the expense of their backs, though I believe the punish- 
ment was greater to me than to them, for I abhor flog- 
ging, and never resort to it but in the extremest cases. 
Still I must be obeyed by these wild hordes coute qui 
coute ; and when reason and argument fail, they must 
learn that I will not weakly refrain from sterner meas- 
ures. I am happy to find Sir Colin ready to back me 
a Voutrance so as ■ to maintain discipline. Have you 
written to our dear friends Napier and Prendergast yet ? 
The latter is in Calcutta with his bride long ago. Sir 
James Outram and Napier have given Mister Pandy a 
glorious thrashing at Alumbagh. Hurrah ! 



REFUSAL OF EXTRA PAY. 403 

January XWi. — I had to go over to see the Chief, 
yesterday, and did not return till night. I also saw good 
Colonel Seaton and Becher, who (the last) starts in a 
day or two for home and England. I did know about 
Mr. Wemyss's good appointment, for Sir Colin good- 
naturedly gave me the' letter to take to him. Wemyss is 
a lucky fellow, and will, I hope, do credit to his luck. 
I only wish I had some family interest to bring into 
play ; my lieutenant-colonelcy would be certain. H. 
Maxwell is to be the new Adjutant of my dear old 
regiment, and ought to make a good one ; there is no 
one now with the regiment who has any experience of 
the work, and Maxwell is more likely to learn than 
many ; he has grown such a tall handsome fellow since 
we saw him at Benares, and is said to be a fine soldier 
in the field. Mac has a letter from Lord William speak- 
ing with enthusiasm of the conduct of some of the ladies 
during the Simla panics. He does not seem to be the 
only one who thinks that heroism in the hills is confined 
to the weaker sex. I am working to get some pay as 
Assistant Quartermaster-General, in addition to my pay 
as commandant, which the pay officer objects to, on the 
ground that one man cannot draw the pay of two offices. 
They should have had two men to do it then ; for I 
worked like a slave, and the laborer is worthy of his hire. 
I saw and had a long talk with your " charming " Mr. 
Raikes yesterday. 

January 22c?. — There has been no news of public 
importance for some days, so I am taking advantage 
of the halt and comparative idleness to work off arrears 
of business and papers, and to prepare rolls and pay 
abstracts for Captain Swinton's office. I have conse- 
quently not been half a mile from my tent these two 



404 MR. MONTGOMERY. —FUTTEHGURH. 

days ; moreover, I am resting my unlucky ankle, which 
has given me much pain and trouble lately. I am 
very glad Mr. Montgomery is at Umbala. I am sure 
you would tell him how grateful I have ever felt for his 
assistance in raising my regiment ; the two troops he 
sent me I shall call Montgomery's troops, and the men 
will like it too. I am sadly oflP for horses, so if you 
really do not care to ride until " the sweet time of grace " 
of our reunion, I shall be very thankful for Selim. 
Will you ask Mr. Forsyth to ascertain for me by tele- 
graph, whether Mr. Eliot at Loodiana has sent oflP my 
other troop from thence ? I must try and get as many 
of my men together as I can during this halt. 

23d. — Our friend Colonel Seaton is to have com- 
mand of a district to be formed of Allygurh, Futteh- 
gurh, Mynpooree, and the post at Meerun-ke-Serai. It 
is a very honorable and important post ; but he would 
prefer, and I for him, a more active command. I ex- 
pect the rest of the force will move into Oudh soon, and 
I do trust to be at the ultimate capture of Lucknow, 
which ought to earn me the Queen's Cross, if " deerin 
do " can gain it. 

2Ath. — They say we are to move soon, but no one 
knows for cei'tain, as I have not been into head-quarters 
for some days ; meantime my pen is busy, very busy, 
with six months' arrears to work off, but I am getting 
on at it famously. 

FuTTEHGURH, 2Qth. — Late last night I was roused 
up by an order to march in here at dawn, so here, accord- 
ingly, we came ; and now at 10 p. m. we are off again, 
on some expedition which will last us a few days.* 

* Mr. Charles Raikes, in his interesting Notes on the Revolt, p. 109, 
says : " At night I warned Mr. Power for duty, to go out with the 



ENGAGEMENT. —MACDO WELL KILLED. 405 

The Chief sent for me as soon as we came in, and was 
very communicative, and asked my opinion in most flat- 
tering terms. I gave it honestly, and only hope he will 
follow it, if we are to make an end of this business before 
another hot season sets in. I fancy the whole force will 
be in motion soon towards Oudh ; but nothing is cer- 
tainly known as yet, except that we go to our old place 
Shumshabad. Colonel Adrian Hope again commands 
the brigade ; we start almost immediately, and shall, I 
hope, do something eflFective. 



FOKT FUTTEHGUEH, Jan. 2Sth. 

( Written with the left hand, in pencil.) 

Thougb I sent you a telegram, I must manage a few 

words by letter to tell you that there is not the very 

slightest cause for alarm on ray account, for I am really 

quite well ; only my right arm will be useless for some 

weeks, but I can do my duty, and intend to march with 

the Commander-in-Chief. What grieves me most is the 

loss of poor Mac ; he was invaluable to me as a brilliant 

soldier, a true friend, and thorough gentleman, — I mourn 

as for a brother.* 

Brigade. I found it difficult to convince him that 2,000 men, quietly- 
slumbering around, would, in the course of an half hour, be under 
arms, and on the march to attack the enemy. Scarce a creature 
in the camp, save General Mansiield, Adrian Hope, Hodson, and I, 
knew the plans of the Commander-in-Chief. The men had gone to 
bed as usual, when quietly orders were issued, and by half-past ten, 
Hope, with his Brigade, was on his march." He then gives several 
amusing native accounts of the action at Shumshabad, and after- 
wards adds, — " Kode to see Hodson ; he is much cut up about Mac- 
dowell's loss, but treats his own wounds very lightly. Being in his 
sword arm, we shall lose his invaluable services for a time." 

* Charles Theophilus Metcalfe, 2nd son of the late James ilac- 
dowell, Esq., of Bengal Medical Service, born 29th October, 1829, 
appointed to Honorable East India Company's Service, 1846. Served 



406 WOUNDS. 

January 2^th. — My constant fear is that you should 
be alarmed for me. I assure you there is not the slight- 
est occasion for anxiety. I have a cut on my hand, and 
another sabre-cut over the forearm, but neither will be 
of more than temporary inconvenience. I am obliged to 
write with my left hand, that is all. I go about as usual, 
and dined with the Chief last night. It was a splendid 
little affair at Shumshabad, and our men and officers did 
wonders, and have gained great credit. We charged a 
large body of the enemy's cavalry, superior in numbers, 
and all else, to ourselves. They fought us desperately, 
returning twice to the charge. We then attacked their 
infantry, all fanatics, who fought with the courage of de- 
spair. Their loss must have been immense ; but we have 
lost one who outweighs them all. I cannot tell you how 
much I feel it. We bury the dear fellow this evening 
by the side of the murdered Tudor Tucker. 

In a letter to England of the same date, he 
says : — 

Camp, Futtehgueh, Jan. Z\st, 1858. 
( Written with left hand.) 

My usual fortune deserted me on the 27th, at Shum- 
shabad, for I got two sabre-cuts on my right arm, which 
have reduced me to this very sinister style of writing 
(absit omen). We had a very stiff fight of it, as we 

in Punjaub campaign of 1848-9, including passage of Chenab at Rara- 
nuggur, and battles of Chillianwallah and Goojerat, in which he 
carried the colors of his regiment, 2d Bengal European Fusileers 
(medal and clasp). Served in Burmah, marched with his regiment 
to Delhi, and served with it in various engagements, till in August 
he was appointed second in command of Hodson's Horse. 

" This excellent officer, who was Captain Hodson's second in com- 
mand, and right-hand man, sunk under his wound, to the sorrow of 
all who knew his rare value as a soldier." — Raikes's Notes. 



TERRIBLE M^LEE. 407 

were far in advance of the rest of the troops, and had to 
charge a very superior body of the mutineer cavahy ; 
but there was notliing for it but fighting, as, had we not 
attaeked them, they would have got in amongst our guns. 
We were only three otiicers, and about 180 horsemen, — 
my poor friend, and second in command, Macdowell, hav- 
ing received a mortal wound a few minutes before we 
charged. It was a terrible melee for some time, and we 
were most wonderfully preserved. However, we gave 
them a very proper thrashing, and killed their leaders. 
Two out of the three of us were wounded, and five of 
my men killed, and eleven wounded, besides eleven 
horses. My horse had three sabre-cuts, and I got two, 
which I consider a rather unfair share. The Command- 
er-in-Chief is very well satisfied, I heai', with the day's 
work, and is profusely civil and kind to me. The force 
moves on to-morrow towai'ds Cawnpore and Lucknow, 
which has at last to be conquered ; for neither Outram, 
Havelock, nor the Commander-in-Chief were able to ef- 
fect a footing in Lucknow. All they could do was to 
bring away the Residency garrison. All the lion's share 
of the work, in the six weeks which intervened between the 
soi-disant relief of the Lucknow garrison by Havelock, 
and the real one by the Commander-in-Chief, was done 
by our friend Colonel Napier. He is the best man we 
have left, now that poor Sir Henry Lawrence and Nichol- 
son are gone. The next is Major Tombs, or I am much 

mistaken I hope to return to Umbala when this 

war is over, to be refitted and get my men trained and 
drilled, which is very necessary. I do hope to be able to 
get home and see yoxxv dear faces once more, as soon as 
our great task is accomplished. I want a change, after 
twelve years of work, and I want to try what home and 



408 WOUNDS. 

good treatment will do for my ankle, which is very bad ; 
in fact, I am unable to walk a hundred yards without 
pain. Well, I think I have done pretty well with my 
left hand. They say I shall be well in six weeks. / say 
in ten days ; I trust so. 



To his Wife. 

FuTTEHGUEH, Jan. SOih. 

Mr. Raikes tells me that he wrote to you immediately 
after the action at Shumshabad, lest you should be made 
unhappy by report. This was most kind and thoughtful 
of him ; and I do hope, therefore, that among so many 
kind friends you will have been spared any unnecessary 
pain. Everybody is very complimentary ; even men I 
never spoke to before. A flattering rascal told me he 
considered it an " honor (forsooth !) to shake even my 
left hand." I might become too proud with so much no- 
tice, but the memory of 1854-55 is ever before me. The 
Commander-in-Chief has been unable to move as yet, for 
many reasons, but I fancy we shall march ere long. I 
am wonderfully well, and the big wound is actually clos- 
ing already ! is not that famous ? 

January 31st. — I have been busy until post-time with 
looking over poor Mac's things, and taking an inventory 
of them for his mother. I am sure you will write to her 
as soon as we can ascertain her address. We march on 
towards Cawnpore to-morrow morning ; it is a grief to 
me to be disabled ever so little just at this time, but in a 
very few days I shall be all right again. 

January 31st. — The Chief wont let me go on just 
yet, though I really am perfectly able to do so. I am not 
a bit the woi'se for these wounds, beyond the temporary 



PRIZE MONEY FOR DELHI. 409 

inconvenience and disgust at being hors de combat in such 
times as these. I look forward with the utmost pleasure 
to seeing our friend Napier at Lucknow ; I wish we 
could hear from him. Inglis's despatch is, as you say, 
most touching, and his conduct most admirable, as well 
as hers. I always thought her a fine character. 

February \st and 2d. — I am really doing very well, 
and the wounds are healing wonderfully fast. In ten 
days I hope to use my arm ; they threatened me with six 
weeks ! I have indeed cause for gratitude, not only for 
my preservation from greater evil, but for this rapid re- 
covery ; happily I was in good health at the time, and 
these wounds depend almost entirely on the state of the 
blood. I shall remain here until the day after to-mor- 
row, and then accompany Brigadier Walpole's brigade to 
join the Chief at Cawnpore. Colonel Burn drives me 
along in a buggy ; for though I can ride, it is not advis- 
able to run the risk of a shake. Every one is most 
kind ; Sir Colin markedly so. We are to have prize 
money for Delhi after all ; this will please as well as ben- 
efit the army, the soldiers not being over-well contented 
with the six months' batta, thinking that was all they 
were to get. It is hardly, perhaps, to be expected that 
the masses should be satisfied with the mere conscious- 
ness of having done their duty through such months of 
suffering as those before Delhi. 

A soldier wrote upon the walls of the Delhi palace 
(alluding to Lord Canning's foolish order about six 
months' donation of batta, which is but thirty-six rupees 
and some odd pence for each man) : — 

" For the salvation of India, the British soldier gets 
thirty-six rupees ten annas, or one rupee one anna per 
battle ; " adding : — 

18 



410 JEU D' ESPRIT. 

"When danger's rife and wars are nigh, 
God and the soldier's all the cry : 
When wars are o'er and matters righted, 
God is forgotten and the soldier slighted.'' 

"Would you credit it ? The Calcutta wiseacres sent up 
orders to institute a strict inquiry who wrote this jeu 
d' esprit. What nuts for the rascal who did it to see how 
deep his hit had rankled ! 

February Bd. — I am overwhelmed with letters of con- 
gratulation, which I can only acknowledge by a few lines 
in this sinister writing. Light has written very warmly, 
also Lord William ; you must thank them both for me at 
present, as we march for Cawnpore early in the morning. 
So I shall be at the capture of Lucknow after all ! and 
after that may God restore us to each other to part no 
more! 

Camp, Jellalabad, on the Grand Trunk Road, 
February 5th. — We shall be at Cawnpore in four days 
more, I trust. Nothing can be more favorable than the 
state of my wounds, and I have felt scarcely any incon- 
venience from travelling. I am fortunate in having 
Colonel Burn for a travelling companion ; pleasant, intel- 
ligent, and warm-hearted. He drives me in his buggy, 
and we breakfast together al fresco. Fancy the Carabi- 
neers of poor Captain Wardlaw's squadron sending a 
deputation, headed by a sergeant, to say on the part of 
the men how grieved they were that I was hurt, and to 
express their hope that I should soon be well and in the 
field again. I confess these things are more gratifying to 
me than any mention in despatches. 

Camp, Meerun-ke-Serai, February 6th. — We had 
a very trying march this morning, a gale of wind bringing 
up clouds of dust and grit, which cut one's face and eyes 



CAWNPORE. 411 

to pieces. I half wished I was a lady to wear a veil ! 
We overtook Maunsell, of the Engineers, who was so 
badly wounded at Delhi, poor fellow ; he is quite recov- 
ered, but his handsome face a good deal disfigured by the 
wound in his forehead. The Governor- General is at 
Allahabad, and I believe Sir Colin is gone on to meet 
him. I am doing well, and getting more handy in the 
use of my left hand, but 'tis a cruel nuisance having only 
one to resort to. The weather is getting warm very lust 
in these parts, and I fear we shall have the hot weather 
on us very soon. However, as soon as Lucknow has 
finally fallen, I shall make every effort to get nwiiy to 
organize and discipline my regiment, and for rest and 
home for myself. 

February 8th. — I go on into Cawnpore in the morn- 
ing, making two marches in one ; my arm has not been 
going on quite so well the last three days, owing, the 
doctor says, to the sharp wind. The wound on the thumb 
is nearly closed, and I shall be all right, I hope, after two 
or three days' quiet at Cawnpore. The getting up in the 
cold mornings is very trying, now that I am unable to 
ride or walk to get wai'm. 

Cawnpore, February 10th. — I got here in good time 
yesterday, but was kept constantly at work fomenting 
this tiresome arm, which had got somewhat inflamed from 
the effects of the journey. To-day we cross the river, and 
encamp a mile or two on the other side, and there I hope 
to halt for a few days. I found letters here from Cal- 
cutta, and have had a visit from Charles Harland, who 
is as jolly and hearty as ever. Our friend (Napier) is 
Chief Engineer with the force, and a Brigadier to boot. 
I hope to see him in a day or two. I have not been to 
the Chief's camp yet ; it is a long way off", and my arm 



412 HOME MEMORIES. 

has prevented me doing anything. I shall be very thank- 
ful when it is vrell, if but to use it for writing, — this left- 
handed caUigraphy is sad slow work. 

Camp on the left bank of the Ganges, Feb- 
ruary 11th. — I came across the river late in the evening, 
and am very glad I did so, as the air is much purer, and 
there is no dust. My arm is ah'eady better for the rest, 
and I hope soon to be able to begin to use it. Do not 
buoy yourself up with hope of honors for me. I shall 
be a Brevet-Major, and nothing more I expect. It seems 
the authorities here never sent home a list of men rec- 
ommended for honors ; and the home authorities have 
been waiting until they get one. " Hinc ilte lacrymse ! " 
And we shall all suffer by the delay in more ways than 
one. But we are certainly to have prize money, and this, 
with the batta, will take us home this time next year if 
not sooner. Dear, dear home, sadly changed and con- 
tracted since I left it, but home still, and dearer than ever 
since the dearest part of myself will accompany me. . . . 
All old home memories were so vividly revived yester- 
day by Charles Harland's visit, and an extract he read 
me from a letter from his brother, describing the enthu- 
siasm of the old people at Colwich,* when the news 
arrived that the King of Delhi was our prisoner, and 
how they came to inquire whether it was really their 
" Master William " who had done it ? Bless their inno- 
cent hearts, where was they riz ? as would say. I 

am sadly at a loss for a second in command, and do not 
know whom to ask for, as officers are so scarce. I have 
twice made an attempt to ask for Reginald to join me to 
do duty, but my fears for you have made me hesitate ; 
and the lesson of the other day has taught me the fearful 
* His father's old parish. 



CAPTAIN PEEL. 413 

risk the dear boy would run in an irregular cavalry regi- 
ment, with such work as mine. Still, if you and he wish 
it, I will ask for him. 

February \2th. — Here I am, you see, writing (such 
as it is) with my right hand once more. I am, indeed, 
wonderfully better, and hope to be on horseback in a few 
days. The scar on my arm is a very ugly one, and will 
mark me for life ; but then, as I am not a lady to wear 
short sleeves, it does not signify. I was much disap- 
pointed this morning to hear from Colonel Bevin, who 
came out to see me, that Napier had been through our 
camp this morning, not knowing I was here ! He is in 
Cawnpore, and the doctor wont let me go and see him 
to-day, and we march on towards Lucknow to-morrow. 
It will be some days yet before the whole force is col- 
lected at Alumbagh. Captain Peel has just gone by 
with his sailors and their enormous ship-guns, 68-pound- 
ers ! I have little doubt but that Lucknow will be in 
our hands before another month is over ; and then I shall 
do my utmost to get my regiment sent back to Umbala to 
be formed and drilled, which it wants badly. I only 
wonder it does as well as it is. I could hardly take any 
other appointment, or even go home, until I had com- 
pleted this task ; and I like my regiment, and what is 
even more to the purpose, the regiment likes me, and 
would follow me any and everywhere, I do believe. 

Camp, Oonao, Februm^ \2>th. — Only a short letter 
to-day, as I have been writing a I'ight-handed one to 
" O.," to satisfy the dear anxious hearts at home. I am 
able to use my arm, but very gently, and shall ride to- 
morrow. Oh, the pleasure of feeling myself on the 
outside of a horse again ! 

February \^th. — Your telegram has been going the 



414 OONAO. 

rounds of all the camps before it found me out. Indeed, 
you must not be anxious on my account, or listen to the 
wild reports which are always rife. Be sure, if anything 
were amiss, there are plenty of our friends here to send 
you the truth. I could not dream of your coming to 
Cawnpore. I would not hear of it even at Futtehgurh, 
for, though your nursing and presence would be infinitely 
precious to me, a camp is no fit place for you. I am, 
indeed, going on wonderfully, and but for the attack of 
inflammation I spoke of, and which turned out to be ery- 
sipelas, I should have been quite well before this ; and as 
it is, I am actually nearer to a total cure than the men 
(Sikhs even) who were wounded the same day. My ab- 
stinence from spirit-drinking has stood me in good stead. 

February Ibih. — No letters again to-day ! I wish the 
Commander-in-Chief would come out from Cawnpore, 
and there would be some chance of better postal duty. 
He is said to be waiting until the convoy of ladies from 
Agra has passed down, lest anything should occur to dis- 
turb the road where he had crossed into Oude with the 
army, — a not unlikely thing to happen. I have just seen 
a notice of my birth, parentage, and education, and ser- 
vices, in the Illustrated News, as also Seaton's account of 
the capture of the Princes. Strange to say, the former 
is not wrong or exaggerated in any principal point. The 
latter is also in the Evening Mail, and I have the honor 
of appearing in big print in the leading article. I see 
also a letter signed " A Civilian ; " not a bad resume in 
its way. I can cock and fire a pistol with the right hand, 
and am constantly working the arm about to prevent its 
growing stiff; and I want to show how much the will has 
to do with getting over these things. 

OoNAO, February l^th. — I have this morning sue- 



NAPIER AND SIR COLIN CAMPBELL. 415 

ceeded in exhuming four letters from the bottom of about 
a hundred-weight of correspondence addressed to all parts 
of the world ; the bag was sent up here in the night for 
people to find their letters as they could. Mine have 
made me so happy. This has been a red-letter day too, 
for I have at last seen our friend Napier. He rode out 
here with Sir Colin, and I need not say how thoroughly 
delighted I was to see him once more. He is looking 
better but older than when we parted, but his charming, 
affectionate manner is as nice as ever. God bless him ! 
I do love him dearly, as if he were indeed my born 
brother. A note from him arrived while he was here ; 
it had been three days going ten miles ! Sir Colin was 
most kind and cordial, and pi'opliesies I shall soon be 
Lieut.-Colonel. I told him I feared there was small hope 
of that, unless my majority could be counted as for the 
Punjaub campaign, as Lord Dalhousie promised, but that 
it had not been put on record. He immediately said, 
" Oh, I'll do that with the greatest pleasure ; let me have 
a memorandum of your services, and I'll do all I can for 
you, and I hope soon to shake hands with you as Lieut.- 
Colonel, C. B., and Victoria Cross to boot." I confess I 
liked this, because it was spontaneous ; it is not the first 
time I have heard a whisper about the Victoria Cross, 
and I confess I do cai'e most for this ; I would rather 
have it than be made a duke. My arm is going on ad- 
mirably, and you may be quite satisfied about me now 
I am near our friend ; he will always do what is kind, 
that we may be quite sure of, and all that is best and ten- 
derest too, where you or I are concerned. I shall try to 
get away immediately after Lucknow is taken, but I fear 
every man may be needed for some time, even after that 
much-desired event takes place. 



416 BRIGADIER LUGARD. 

Camp, Oonao, February 17th. — I grieve deeply at 
your anxiety, and can scarcely undex'stand your " terror 
at the very name of Cawnpore and Lucknow," except for 
what has passed. I am not nearly so much exposed to 
peril here as at Delhi ; the place, too, and time of year 
are more healthy ; so continue to " hope on," bravely 
now as ever, until the end, which must be very soon. 
.... I am going to spend to-morrow in Cawnpore with 
Napier, and have a big talk. The delay in the brevet 
is an accident, not owing to the home authorities. It 
has gone home now, and my name is in it, Sir Colin 
told me. 

Cawnpore, February 19th. — I shall ride back to 
Oonao early to-morrow morning ; the temptation of Na- 
pier's society was irresistible ; it is such a pleasure to 
see him again. There will be no move hence until the 
23d, I think, though it is getting rapidly hot in this hate- 
ful place ; but on the other side the river it is cool, and 
Lucknow is even more so, I hear. Osborn Wilkinson 
has been here, and has gone on towards Alumbagh. I 
shall try and get him for my regiment, if but to do duty ; 
he is a fine fellow and thorough soldier. 

Oonao, February 20th. — I rode out from Cawnpore 
this morning ; Colonels Napier and Lugard accompany- 
ing me for some miles, — the latter only arrived yester- 
day ; he is to command a division as Brigadier-Genei'al, 
I am glad to say. Our friend is nicer than ever, and 
looking well. 

February 21st. — As far as I can learn, we (i. e., my 
Horse) shall have but little to do with the actual capture 
or assault of Lucknow, and I fancy our duty will be pro- 
tecting the flanks and rear of the army from incursions 
of the enemy's cavalry, &c. General Lugard came out 



MARCH TO ALUMBAGH. 417 

this morning to take the command. I hope Napier will 
soon follow. I am very anxious to get on and get the 
affair over. 

February 22d. — Thei'e is not a particle of news of 
any kind. I had an attack of fever last night, but it is 
gone this morning, and I am all right again ; the wound 
on my arm is quite closed, and the last bandage discarded ; 
the thumb is still very stiff, and the joint much enlarged. 
My wounds have healed with unpi-ecedented rapidity ; and 
I cannot be sufficiently grateful that I am so soon enabled 
to return to my duty. Dear Douglas Seaton has been 
very ill again, and unable to leave England, as he in- 
tended, poor fellow. I believe half his illness is caused 
by fretting at being away from his regiment now it is in 
the field ; but he never could have stood the trial of those 
months before Delhi. The Commander-in-Chief tells me 
that, despairing of getting the list of recommendations 
for Delhi from India, the Duke of Cambridge is making 
out a list himself from the despatches, to be corrected 
hereafter if any omissions occur. The next mail may, 
therefore, make me a Major, as I was mentioned even in 
Wilson's despatches. God grant I may be able to get 
home ; that is my great desire now. 

February 2Sd. — It is midnight, and we march for 
Alumbagh at 4 A. M. ; so I write a line at once to say I 
am doing well, and will send a telegram if anything oc- 
curs, which I do not expect yet. There has been a big 
fight, within a few miles of us, between the force under 
General Hope Grant and the rebels, and there was a 
bigger on Sunday at Lucknow with Sir James Outrara's 
force. I have got hold of a strip of newspaper this 
morning, with Brigadier Hope's Shumshabad despatch, in 
which I figure so prominently that I am inclined to in- 
18* 



418 SUBSCRIPTION TO THE ASYLUM. 

dorse it " Hope told a flattering tale," and send it home 
to the dear girls. The convoy arrived this morning 
(i. e., the ladies, &c.) from Agra, so I hope the Chief 
will move soon. I was out all the morning with General 
Lugard, and was surprised to find how hot the weather is 
getting (in the sun) even here ; but I am quite well — 
quite. 

In a letter of this date to the Chaplain of the 
Lawrence Asylum, he says : — 

... I have only to add that in gratitude for the many 
and unspeakable mercies which I have received during 
the past year, and also as a token of most affectionate 
regret for Sir H. Lawrence, I shall thank you to note the 
increase of my subscription to the asylum to 100 rupees 
per annum. 



CONCLUDING CHAPTER. 

ALUMBAGH, LUCKNOW. THE BEGUM's PALACE. 

BANKS'S HOUSE. THE SOLDIER's DEATH. NO- 
TICES. — CONCLUDING REMARKS. 

To Ms Wife. 

Camp, Alumbagh, near Luckno'W, 
February %Uh. 

We arrived here last night at dusk, after a terribly 
dusty march of thirty-six miles. To-day we had a bit 
of a fight. The Pandies, ignorant of the reinforcements 
which had arrived, had as usual come round one flank 
of the camp, so we moved out and caught them as they 
were trying to get back again, and took two of their guns. 
By " we," I mean my own men and the Military Train 
men from home. Young Gough, my adjutant, was 
wounded, and had his horse shot. I was luckily in the 
way, or it would have gone worse with him ; * my own 
horse too (pretty " Child of the Desert ") was wounded, 
and I was obliged to mount a sowar's horse. Gough will 
be laid up for a month, I fear ; it is a flesh wound in 
the thigh. I do not think Master Pandy will try the 
same trick again. We have been out so long that there 
is time for no more to-day than this assurance of my 
safety. 

* Lieutenant Gough says, that my brother saved his life by cutting 
down a rebel trooper in the very act of spearing hira. 



420 SIR JAMES OUTRAM. 

Alumbagh, Fehruary "ibth. — I have been calling on 
Sir James Outram this morning, and had a most pleasant 
interview ; the brave old warrior greeted me most cor- 
dially, professing his satisfaction at having at last met one 
of whom he had heard so much, &c. &c. The pleasure 
was certainly mutual, for I have long wished to meet him. 
He made many inquiries about you also, and asked 
whether you had not been in the hills during the panic, 
and helped the refugees, &c. How proudly I could 
answer all his praise in the affirmative. He also asked 
my opinion of Lord William's administration, and I was 
glad of the opportunity to testify in his favor. Altogether 
this good old soldier's compliments were pleasing to me, 
particularly as he was not one of those who in my time 
of trouble passed me by on the other side. 

The enemy is quite quiet to-day. I fancy we were too 
much for his philosophy yesterday. Fancy the Queen 
Regnant coming out on an elephant to meet us, to en- 
courage her wavering followers ! I wish the Chief would 
make haste and finish this business, it is getting cruelly 
hot already. 

'ilih. — All quiet still with the enemy. A packet of 
letters has arrived, and brought me all the comfort I am 
capable of receiving in this torturing absence ; would it 
were over ! I hear the Chief has crossed the Ganges 
and is coming on here. I believe we had some K.v6og for 
the affair of the 25th, though beyond being exposed to 
a very galling fire, I did not think much of it myself. 
Gough's wound is a serious misfortune to me just now ; 
a gallant, go-a-head boy like him is not to be easily re- 
placed, any more than poor Mac is. I myself am laid 
up with a sore leg ; I would not nurse it at first, and now 
it is so painful I cannot mount my horse or even stand 



SORE LEG. 421 

without pain, so I shall go into the next scrimmage on an 
elephant ! Dr. Brougham, however, says it will be well 
in four or five days. I did not know Greville was going 
home so soon, I hoped to have shaken him by the saint 
hand once more before we parted for so long. 

Alumbagh, \st March. — Nothing of public impor- 
tance is occurring. I am still unable to ride, so I do 
regimental work. I dined with Sir J. Outram (he is the 
General commanding here) and with Colonel Haggart, 
7th Hussars, last night ; the former is quite affectionate 
in his manner to me. He would quite charm you, and 
were I not out of love with vanity, would spoil me ; but 
I confess the respectful homage of the soldiers is pleas- 
anter to my spirit than the praise of great men. I study 
to be quiet and do my own business without elation and 
pride, satisfied with the testimony of my own conscience 
that I strive to do my duty. 

March 2d. — The Commander-in-Chief arrived with a 
large part of the force this morning, marched straight 
through our camp, and at the enemy (who of course ran 
away), and occupied the Dilkoosha, a large garden-house 
and park near the city. My unfortunate leg prevented 
my sharing in the fray, I grieve to say, and I am actually 
in a fright lest he (the Chief) should take Lucknow 
before 1 am able to ride ! 

Alumbagh, March 6th. — I had time for but the 
merest line yesterday, written from Dilkoosha, where 
the Commander-in-Chief is encamped, and whither we 
were erroneously brought yesterday to return here to- 
day. I had a long talk with Sir Colin, who was even 
more than commonly kind and cordial. I am not very 
well, I am sorry to say ; this leg troubles me, and is the 
effect of the erysipelas which attacked my arm in conse- 



422 NEAR LUCKNOW. 

quence of the wounds closing too quickly. The truth is 
that I lost about a pound and a half of blood when I was 
wounded, and having had two slight bouts of fever since, 
I am not so strong as I would be ; however, I am getting 
on, and am dosed with steel, quinine, and port wine ad lib. 
My arm is pretty well, but the wound opened again par- 
tially after the 25th, and I have been obliged to submit to 
bandages, &c. ; still I hope three or four days will set me 
all right again, though I fear the arm will never be quite 
straight again, or the thumb quite flexible. I shall have 
to go home for rest to my body, if not for comfort to my 
heart. I have seen Osborn Wilkinson ; he is as nice as 
possible, and he is now Deputy Assistant Quartermaster- 
General to the Cavalry Brigade, to which my Horse is 
attached, so I hope to see more of him than of late. I 
breakfasted yesterday at head-quarters with Napier, and 
grieved to see that he looked worn and troubled. I fear 
his health is very precarious. 

Camp, near Lucknovs^, March 6th. — .... I grieve 
that you should be anxious on my account ; the same 
merciful Providence which has so wonderfully preserved 
us both through so many and great dangers, will, I ear- 
nestly pray, continue the same gracious guardianship ; yet 
I strive to be prepared for all ... . 

I had to march again this morning ; a message from 
Su' Cohn last night to the Brigadier having directed him 
to put me in charge of the line of communications with 
Jellalabad, the Alumbagh, and his camp. So I had to 
bring my men up here, half-way between the two camps, 
and to make arrangements for insuring the safety of the 
roads, and protecting the convoys on which the existence 
of the army depends. The worst part of it is I cannot 
ride, and have had, for the first time in my life, to do out- 



REGINALD. 423 

.post duty in a dog-cart ! driving across country to post 
videttes and picquettes, &,q,. What with this continued 
movement and the rest which I am compelled to take re- 
cumbent, I liave had no time for writing as I fain would 
do. I have heard from Reginald ; he is so earnest in his 
wish to do duty with my regiment, that I have asked for 
him. May God preserve the dear boy from all evil ! I 
shall never forgive myself if harm comes to him. There 
is no decided move at pi'esent ; the net is gradually clos- 
ing round the enemy, some of the Goorkhas and Briga- 
dier Frank's column having already arrived. You must 
not expect more than a Majority for me yet, though I 
have good reason to believe that more will come. 

March 8th. — I went up myself to-day to the head- 
quarters' camp, to look for letters and see our friend, but 
failed in both ; but I breakfasted and had a long chat with 
that pleasantest of persons, Lugard, now Sir Edward, and 
while there I had a letter from Norman to say that Regi- 
nald had been appointed to do duty with my Horse. I 
can but think he is too young ; but if he must see hard 
service so early, better with me than elsewhere. God 
grant it may be for his good. I am looking for the end 
with an eager longing for rest which I cannot control. 
Dear Sir Henry used to say I was ambitious, and I know 
I was proud and thirsty of success ; but now all desires 
for the future settle down into the one thought of home. 

March 9th. — I grieve that report should cause you 
fear and anxiety whenever there has been a fight, par- 
ticularly as the chances are against my being in it. You 
should remember that our force extends now round three 
sides nearly of Lucknow. The extreme right of our po- 
sition, or rather camps, being at least nine miles from the 
left ; so that engagements occur at one part which those 



424 CHOICE OF OFFICERS. 

at the other never perhaps hear of till next day ! This 
was the case with the Dilkoosha affair. The Chief passed 
our camp on the left, moved on some miles, and occupied 
"Dilkoosha" (a fine palace, three stories high), and the 
ground up to the banks of the Goomtee, almost without 
opposition. I was never within miles of him. Indeed, 
I have not been on horseback since the 25th, as I am 
forced to save myself for emergencies. If anything im- 
portant occurs, be sure I will send a telegram somehow. 
I have written to Reginald, and sent him a copy of the 
General Order appointing him to do duty with my regi- 
ment. I have also got a Lieutenant Meecham, of the 
Madras army, — a great artist and good-looking fellow, 
and, what is much more to my purpose, a fine soldier I 
believe. I have also asked for young Blackburne, whom 
you may remember in the 20th Native Infantry at Pe- 
shawur, — a friend of Edward Loyd's. He is much 
" come out " since then. I do hope Hugh Gough will 
soon be well ; I do ill without such a dashing fine fellow. 
In the affair of the 25th we were leading, and took the 
guns, — i. e., we fairly captured one, and drove the enemy 
away from the other, and kept them at bay until the 
" train " came up and secured it. I was not altogether 
satisfied with my men in this part of the affair. They 
hesitated, and let me go ahead unsupported except by 
Nihal Singh ; old Mahommed Reza Khan, and one or 
two others, with Gough, being near. The consequence 
was that the enemy concentrated their fire on our little 
party. However, the Europeans of the Military Train 
hesitated to do what I wanted mi/ men to do, and they 
behaved very well immediately afterwards. There has 
been a great fuss about the matter ; Sir Colin having 
taken great and very just offence at its being reported to 



PROMOTION. 425 

him that the cavahy were " led " by Colonel , a staff- 
officer He got wounded, and then was officially 

reported to liave " led the cavalry," whereas we had 
Brigadier Campbell (a capital officer), and Colonel Hag- 
gart, of the 7th Hussars, present, besides the officers 
commanding regiments, " quorum pars fui." Sir Colin 

denounced Colonel 's " leading " as " an insufferable 

impertinence," called me up, and asked me before them 
all, " Were you present with your regiment on the 25th ? " 
and on my saying, " Yes," he cried out, " Now, look here ; 
look at my friend Hodson here, does he look like a man 
that needs ' leading ? ' Is that a man likely to want 
' leading ? ' I should like to see the fellow who'd pi-e- 
sume to talk of ' leading ' that man ! " pointing to me, and 
so forth. I nearly went into convulsions ; it was such a 
scene 

The Martiniere was taken to-day without loss except 
poor Captain Peel, who, I grieve to say, is wounded. 

March lOth. — The mail is come with my Majority. 
The brevet has given general dissatisfaction. Some of 
the double honors are marvellous ; but it should be re- 
membered that these promotions are given sponte sua by 
the home authorities, no recommendations having gone 
from hence till lately. I am content myself, having no 
interest. It proves they perceive I have done something, 
or I should not have this beginning ; and it is satisfactory 
to find that it is universally considered that I have been 
shabbily used. Better this by far than to have people 
lifting up their eyes and saying I had got too much ! 
Inglis is justly rewarded, and some others. I dare say 
more will come with time. I hope devoutly that when 
Lucknow falls I shall be released. We shall know in a 
few days, — for even while I write Lucknow seems to be 



426 ATTACKS ON LUCKNOW. 

" falling " fast. Immense progress was made yesterday, 
with not more loss than some 18 or 20 wounded, and I 
hear to-day they are going ahead again. Pandy has 
quite given up fighting, except pot-shots under cover, and 
runs at the very sight of troops advancing. I stood on 
the top of the Dilkoosha palace yesterday, and watched 
the capture of as strong a position as men could wish for 
(which at Delhi would have cost us hundreds) without 
the enemy making a single struggle or firing a shot. At 
this rate Lucknow will soon be in our hands. We (of 
the cavalry) are kept on the qui vive watching the south- 
ern outlets from the town to prevent escape, and I expect 
to see Lucknow taken without being under fire again. 
Well, it must be confessed that I have had my share of 
the dangers of the war, and whether I receive honors or 
not, I have the testimony of my own conscience that I 
have done one man's work towards the restoration of our 
power in India. ... I have been occupied to-day 
in trying to get the Victoria Cross for the two Goughs. 
Hugh certainly ought to have it.* 

March \lth. — Just as I sit down to write comes an 
order to move our camp towards Alumbagh again ; Jung 
Bahadoor having at last arrived with his army and taken 
up ground between me and the enemy. ... If any- 
thing occurs, I will get Colonel Napier or Norman to 
send you a service telegram. . . . 

This was the last letter which my brother wrote. 
Having given directions to his Adjutant, Lieuten- 
ant Gough, he said he would ride on and look out 
a nice spot for their new camping-ground, and be 
back in time to march with them. On his way 

* It has been given. — Ed. 



ASSAULT ON BEGUM'S PALACE. 427 

he heard firing, and riding forward, found that the 
Begum's Palace was to be attacked. He imme- 
diately rode to the place, and finding his friend 
Brigadier Napier directing the attack, said laugh- 
ingly, " I am come to take care of you ; you have 
no business to go to work without me to look 
after you." The assault was successful.* He 
entered the breach with General Napier and sev- 
eral others. In a few minutes they were sepa- 
rated in the melee, and General Napier saw noth- 
ing more of him till he was sent for to him 
" dangerously wounded." The surgeon of his 
regiment gives the following account : — 

" We struck our tents and were saddled, waiting for 
him till it became so dark that we were forced to go with- 
out him, and reached our ground after sunset. I had 
gone to the post-office and was five minutes behind the 
regiment. When I came up, I found that Hodson's or- 
derly had come in great haste, saying that his master had 
sent for me, but with no other message. He said that 
his master had been hit when advancing with the troops 
on the Begum's Kotee on foot. 

" I mounted and rode off with him at once. From the 
darkness of the night and the difficulty of passing the 
Goorkah sentries, I did not get to Dilkooshah till 9 p. m. 

* At the Begum's Palace the defences were found, after the capture 
of the place, so much stronger than could be observed or had been be- 
lieved, that the General said, that, had he known what lay before the 
assaulting column, he should have hesitated to give the order for ad- 
vance. They went at it, however, with a rush, — the 93d Highlanders 
and 4th Punjaub Rifles, old comrades at the Secundrabagh, — and 
carried it. 



428 MAJOR HODSON SHOT. 

There no one knew where he was. I then went on to 
the artillery mess and learnt that he was in Banks's 
House which I reached about 10 p. m. I found him in a 
dooly and Dr. Sutherland with him, whom I at once re- 
lieved, and learnt the following particulars from him and 
from the orderly who remained with Hodson, and who 
had been by his side when hit. He had arrived at 
Banks's House just as the party going to attack the 
Begum's Palace were starting, and fell in with them. 
The place had been taken before he was wounded. 
When the soldiers were searching for concealed Sepoys 
in the court-yard and buildings adjoining, he said to his 
orderly, ' I wonder if any of the rascals are in there.' 
He turned the angle of the passage ; looked into a dark 
room, which was full of Sepoys ; a shot was fired from 
inside. He staggered back some paces and then fell. A 
party of Highlanders, hearing who had been hit, rushed 
into the room and bayoneted every man there. 

" The orderly, a large powerful Sikh, carried him in 
his arms out of danger, and got a dooly and brought him 
back to Banks's House, where his wound was looked to 
and dressed. 

" He was shot through the right side of the chest, in 
the region of the liver, the ball entering in front and 
going out behind. There had been profuse bleeding, and 
I saw that the wound was most likely mortal. 

" He was very glad to see me, and began talking of 
his wound, which he thought himself was mortal. I lay 
beside him on the ground all night, holding his hand, on 
account of the great pain he suffei'ed. He was very 
weak when I arrived, but by means of stimulants rallied 
wonderfully, and slept for an hour or two during the 
night. At daylight he was much better, his hands were 



LAST HOURS. 429 

warm and his pulse good, and I had hopes that, if the 
bleeding, which had ceased, did not return, he might re- 
covei'. He drank two cups of tea, and said he felt very 
well. His account of his being wounded agreed with the 
orderly's. 

" About 9 A. M. I had the dooly lifted into a room, 
which I had had cleared out, where he was much quieter. 
At 10 A. M., however, bleeding came on again profusely, 
and he rapidly became worse. I told him that recovery 
Avas impossible. He then sent for General Napier, to 
whom he gave directions about his property and mes- 
sages to his wife. After this he rapidly sank, though 
he remained sensible and was able to speak till a quarter 
past one, when he became too weak ; and at twenty-five 
minutes past one died. 

" His orderly * actually cried over him, he was so at- 
tached to him. 

" He was buried that evening by the Rev. Dr. Smith. 
The Commander-in-Chief and his staff were present." 

General Napier says, in a letter to Mrs. Hod- 
son : — 

" I regret bitterly now, that I did not insist on your 
dear husband going back, but you know how impossible 
it was to check his dauntless spirit." 

He and others who were present give the fol- 
lowing particulars : — 

" He lay on his bed of mortal agony and met 

* This orderly, Nihal Singh, afterwards travelled to Simla at his 
own expense to see Mrs. Hodson, and beg to be taken into her service 
and go to England with her. The men of his regiment cried like 
children when thev heard the news of his death. 



430 CLOSING SCENE. 

death with the same calm composure which so much dis- 
tinguished him on the field of battle. He was quite con- 
scious and peaceful, occasionally uttering a sentence : — 

" ' My poor wife,' ' My poor sisters.' 

" ' I should have liked to see the end of the campaign 
and gone home to the dear ones once more, but it was so 
ordered.' 

" ' It is hard to leave the world just now, when success 
is so near, but God's will be done.' 

" ' Bear witness for me that I have tried to do my duty 
to man. May God forgive my sins for Christ's sake.' ' I 
go to my Father.' 

" ' My love to my wife ; tell her my last thoughts were 
of her.' ' Lord, receive my soul.' 

" These were his last words, and, without a sigh or 
struggle, his pure and noble spirit took its flight." 

Thus, on the 12th of March, 1858, in his thirty- 
seventh year, closed the earthly career of one of 
the best and bravest of England's sons, one of 
her truest heroes, of whom it may be said, — 
" Quanquam medio in spatio integrse Estatis erep- 
tus, quantum ad gloriam longissimum sBvum 
peregit." 

Great and irreparable as was his loss to his 
family and his friends, as a husband, a brother, 
and a friend, I believe that, at the particular 
juncture at which he was taken away, it was 
still greater, as a soldier, to his country. It 
would be difficult to overestimate the value of 
the services which he might have rendered, if 
spared, in the pacifying of Oude after the cap- 



TESTIMONY OF SIR COLIN CAMPBELL. 431 

ture of Lucknow, or the influence which he 
might have had on the fortunes of the war. One 
of those best qualified to judge declared, that 
" Hodson with his regiment would have been 
worth 10,000 men." His peculiar qualifications 
for Asiatic warfare would have found an appro- 
priate field for their display. 

It is unnecessary, however, for me to attempt 
to pronounce his eulogium. This has been done 
by those more capable of forming an estimate of 
his rare excellence as a soldier, and of doing it 
justice by their words. 

Sir Colin Campbell, in a letter of condolence 
to his widow, thus expressed himself : — 

" Maetiniere, March 13, 1858. 
" Madam, — It is with a sentiment of profound regret 
that I am compelled to address you for the purpose of 
communicating the sad news that your gallant and dis- 
tinguished husband, Major Hodson, received a mortal 
wound from a bullet on the 11th instant. He unfor- 
tunately accompanied his friend Brigadier Napier, com- 
manding Engineers in the successful attack on the Be- 
gum's Palace. The whole army, which admired his 
talents, his bravery, and his military skill, deplores his 
loss, and sympathizes with you in your irreparable be- 
reavement. I attended your husband's funeral yester- 
day evening, in order to show what respect I could to the 
memory of one of the most brilUant officers under my 
command. 

(Signed) " C. Campbell, 

" Cum.-in- Chief in East Indies." 



432 EXTRACTS FROM LETTERS. 

An oflS.cer who was present at the funeral 
says : — 

" When the part of the service came where the body 
is lowered into the grave, all the old warrior's courage 
and self-possession could no longer control the tears, — 
undeniable evidence of what he felt. ' I have lost one of 
the finest officers in the army,' was his remark to General 
Napier." 

Even Sir John Lawrence, no friendly judge, 
pronounced him in an official paper to be — 

" One of the ablest, most active, and bravest soldiers 
who have fallen in the present war." 

Sir E,. Montgomery says : — 

" I look round and can find no one like him. Many 
men are as brave, many possess as much talent, many are 
as cool and accurate in judgment, but not one combines 
all these qualifications as he did." 

I shall best give an idea of the universal feeling 
of regret awakened at the tidings of his death by 
subjoining a few extracts from the public press 
at home and abroad, and from private letters. 
The Bombay correspondent of the Times, after 
detailing the assault on the Begum's Palace, 
wrote thus: — 

"At this point fell, mortally wounded, Hodson of the 
1st Bengal Fusileers; Hodson of Hodson's Hoi'se ; Hod- 
son, the captor of the King of Delhi and the princes of his 
house. Few of the many losses that have occurred dur- 
ing the opei'ations consequent upon the mutinies, have 



EXTRACTS FROM NEWSPAPERS. 433 

caused such universal regret throughout India as the 
death of this excellent officer ; and among those in Eng- 
land who have read of and admired his exploits, not only 
his comrades of the Sikh battle-fields, but many an old 
friend at Rugby or at Trinity will mourn that his career 
has been thus early closed." 

The Times, in a leading article, thus announced 
his death : — 

" The country will receive with lively regret the news 
that the gallant Major Hodson, who has given his name 
to an invincible and almost ubiquitous body of cavalry, 
was killed in the attack on Lucknow. Major Hodson 
has been from the very beginning of this war fighting 
everywhere and against any odds with all the spirit of a 
Paladin of old. His most remarkable exploit, the cap- 
ture of the King of Delhi and his two sons, astonished 
the world by its courage and coolness. Hodson was, 
indeed, a man who, from his romantic daring and his 
knowledge of the Asiatic character, was able to beat the 
natives at their own weapons. We could better have 
spared an older and more highly placed officer." 

The following notice appeared in a Bombay 
paper : — 

" From a Lucknow letter which we publish to-day our 
readers will learn, with sorrow and regret, that that most 
able and gallant officer. Captain Hodson, who has distin- 
guished himself on so many occasions since the breaking 
out of the rebellion, and whose services have been of so 
brilliant and valuable a charactei', has been killed at 
Lucknow. As a leader of Irregular Horse, or indeed as 
a soldier of any of the non-scientific forces. Captain Hod- 

19 



434 EXTKACTS FKOM NEWSPAPERS. 

son was almost without an equal. He was one of those 
squadron leaders which the Indian army can alone rear 
up. There are few men who would have managed the 
capture of the ex-King of Delhi as this departed hero 
did. On that occasion his force was small compared to 
that he had to cope with ; but the determined daring of 
the man made up for the disparity, and the old King 
came out of his fortification — for a strong fortification it 
was — and surrendered. So also with the capture of the 
King's sons, who also surrendered themselves, but whom 
Hodson found rescued when he reached them, after 
having completed the disarming of their band. That 
was a moment to test a man. But he of whom we write 
was equal to the emergency. The carts in which the 
princes were, were retaken immediately. Still the aspect 
of the armed Mahomedan crowd around — growing every 
moment more numerous — was dark and threatening. It 
was a situation which required prompt decision, and 
promptly did the British leader decide. He saw that it 
was necessary that his prisoners should die, and resolved 
himself to become their executioner : a wise resolve, for, 
probably, had he asked one of his own Mahomedan 
troopers to kill the sons of the Mogul, a refusal would 
have followed, and that refusal might have been acted up 
to by all. He adopted the wiser course, harangued his 
men, ordered the prisoners to take off their robes in the 
cart, and shot them with his own hand. Had the prison- 
ers been allowed to leave the cart, their bodies would 
have been left behind ; for to touch them would, by the 
troopers, have been considered defilement, and, left be- 
hind, they might have been fanatically paraded through 
the country as an incitement to a fresh rising. Besides, 
it was necessary that their remains should be exposed at 



NOTICKS OF DEATH. 435 

the Kotwallie in Delhi with something of the indignity 
they themselves had caused to be inflicted on the mur- 
dered victims of the 11th of May." 

Another published a letter with this sen- 
tence : — 

" Hodson, splendid fellow, died the following day, most 
deeply regretted by all ranks in his regiment. He indeed 
was a brave soldier, a clever and truly esteemed com- 
mander. May we not say he was one of the flowers of 
the ' old Europeans,' and an ornament to the Bengal 
arm}' 



j7" 



The writer (in Blackwood's Magazine) of a 
series of papers on the 1st Fusileers, says : — 

" Then fell one of the bravest in the Indian army, an 
officer whose name has been brought too often before the 
public by those in high command to need my humble 
word in praise. There was not a man before Delhi who 
did not know Hodson ; always active, always cheery, it 
did one's heart good to look at his face, when all felt how 
critical was our position. Ask any soldier who was the 
bravest man before Delhi, who most in the saddle, who 
foremost ? and nine out of ten in the Infantry will tell 
you Hodson, in the Artillery as many will name Tombs. 

" I once heard one of the Fusileers say, ' Whenever 
I sees Captain Hodson go out, I always prays for him, 
for he is sure to be in danger.' Yet it was not only in 
the field that Hodson was to be valued, his head was as 
active as his hand was strong, and I feel sure, when we 
who knew him heard of his death, not one but felt that 
there was a vacancy indeed in our ranks." 



436 NOTICES OF DEATH. 

The Times correspondent, (Mr. Russell,) in his 
letter of March 13th, writes : — 

" When I returned to head-quarters' camp this evening, 
I found that poor Hodson had died the previous day, and 
been buried the same evening. 

" He was a zealous and accomplished officer, of great 
bravery, ability, and determination, an excellent judge of 
the native character, of a humane and clement disposi- 
tion, but firm in the infliction of deserved punishment. 

" The last time I saw him alive he expressed a decided 
opinion that Government must resort to an amnesty, or 
be prepared for a long continuance of disturbances." 

From the Delhi Gazette : — 

" He was a perfect gentleman, an accomplished scholar, 
and we need scarcely add, (what our columns have so 
often recorded,) one of the most brilliant soldiers in this 
or any other army. His death is not only a severe family 
affliction, but a national calamity, and it will be long be- 
fore the name of the capturer of the King and princes of 
Delhi wnll cease to be mentioned with honor, and remem- 
bered with regret." 

From private letters of condolence, which would 
fill a volume, I select a few passages, in which 
the writers seem to have seized with great felicity 
upon some of the more remarkable features in my 
brother's character and actions. 

" It is hard to lose one upon whom all eyes were fixed, 
and whose noble qualities seemed so certain of recogni- 
tion, and of speedy advancement to such employments as 
his fine natural abilities well fitted him to discharge. 



PRIVATE LETTERS. 437 

" The very presence of such a man in India was an 
element of power apart from all official rank, and he 
could ill be spared from among the very few who have 
learnt to impersonate in themselves the power of the 
English nation, and to let the natives of India feel the 
irresistible character of that power. You must have 
watched him so anxiously and so proudly that, though 
thousands of us have done the same, none can approach 
the measure of your sorrow or mourn as you that he can 
confer no more honor on your name, but that the oppor- 
tunities of the future must be reaped by other and less 
capable hands. 

" I cannot feel easy without expressing to you the 
great grief and consternation with which I read the ac- 
count of your brother's death. Certainly it would have 
been little less than miraculous if, being what he was, he 
had lived out this war. And yet I, for one, had always 
cherished a hope that I might have seen once more with 
my own eyes so noble and gallant a soldier. 

" There is, after all, something about skilful courage 
which draws the heart to itself more than eloquence, or 
learning, or anything else, and your brother seems to have 
been endued with this almost more than any living Eng- 
lishman, brave as our countrymen are." 



" Closely have I watched, during these last few sad 
months, the career of that brave brother of yours. I 
could estimate his bold and self-sacrificing courage, and 
knowing as I did the sort of people over whom he had 
acquired such perfect sway, I knew how much a clear 
and commanding intellect must have been called into ex- 
ercise, to aid a strong and devoted heart. What victims 

19* 



438 PRIVATE LETTERS. 

has Lucknow offered up to the fiendish treachery of those 
ungrateful men — Lawrence ! Havelock ! and Hodson ! " 



" My grief is not for him ; he had done his work in 
that station of life in which God had placed him, nobly, 
heartily, and as in the sight of God (would that we all 
did our work in half such a Christian spirit) ; but for 
you all, who were looking forward to seeing him again, 
crowned with the honors he had so hardly won. Well, it 
has pleased God that this was not to be ; but there is a 
good hope, more than a hope, that a reward of a higher 
kind is his." 

From one who had known him in India: — 

" From the love and esteem I bore your brother, you 
will, I feel sure, allow me to write and express, however 
imperfectly words can do it, my deep and heartfelt sym- 
pathy with you and your sisters under this heavy blow. 
Our acquaintance was not of long standing, but had rap- 
idly ripened into intimacy, and I look back to the days 
spent in his society as amongst my happiest in India. His 
very presence was sunshine. 

" Of my admiration for his talents, and the service he 
rendered his country, it would be impertinent to speak, — 
they are of public note ; but of the tender sympathies, 
the ready advice, the forgetfulness of self, and the ever- 
mindfulness of others, I may testify. His was, indeed, 
a rare and beautiful character, and the better he was 
known the more he could not fail to be appreciated." 

I will add one more letter from General John- 
stone, which will show that even to the last my 



EXPRESSIONS OF REGRET. 439 

brother was pursued by the same jealousy and 
malignity which had caused him so much suffer- 
ing in former years : — 

" He was too noble to pass through the world without 
detractors. The ambitious and brave envied him, be- 
cause the brilliancy of his acts put theirs in the shade ; 
I mean, those not possessed of the disinterestedness of 
Christians. 

"The mean and despicable hated him, because they 
quailed before the eagle eye that could endure neither 
dishonesty nor cowardice. Their base slanders were in 
whispers during his life ; now that his gallant spirit is 
gone, they come forward in unblushing malignity. I 
heard the whispers only ; my indignation at learning the 
baseness with which this true hero has been treated is 
beyond all my powers of expression." 

Some of my readers may be interested in a 
description of Major Hodson's personal appear- 
ance and manner, given in a letter describing a 
visit which he paid the writer a few years previ- 
ously at Calcutta : — 

" He was remarkably well made, lithe, and agile ; in 
height about five feet eleven inches. His hair had slightly 
receded from a high and most intellectual forehead, and 
was light and curly. His eyes were blue, but animated by 
a peculiarly determined, and sometimes even fierce look, 
which would change to one of mischievous merriment, 
for he was keenly susceptible of the ridiculous, in whatever 
shape it presented itself; but usually his look impressed 
me at once with that idea of his determination and 
firmness which have ever characterized his actions. His 



440 PERSONAL DESCRIPTION. 

nose was inclining to the aquiline, and the curved, thin 
nostrils added a look of defiance in noways counteracted 
by the compressed lips, which seemed to denote many an 
inward struggle between duty and inclination. These 
are my impressions of Hodson as I last saw him ; and if 
you add to this an open, frank manner, that, bongre mal- 
gre, impressed you favorably at first sight with the owner, 
you will have the charming ensemble that presides over 
my recollections of three as happy weeks as I ever 
passed." 

As a pendant to this portrait I give another 
from a lady's pen, drawn more recently : — 

" There was an indescribable charm of manner about 
him, combining all the gentle playfulness of the boy, the 
deep tenderness of the woman, and the vigorous decision 
of the soldier. 

" His powers of attraction extended even to animals ; 
and it was touching to see his large white Persian cat 
following him from room to room, escaping from the ca- 
resses of others to nestle by him. I have often watched 
the pretty creature as he threw himself, exhausted with 
the day's work, on an easy chair or sofa, rubbing himself 
against his master, whisking the long white tail against 
his fair moustache, and courting the endeai'ments liber- 
ally bestowed. Restless with others, pussy was at rest if 
established by him. 

" At Delhi there was a wild, shy little kitten, which 
fled from every one else, but mewed provokingly when- 
ever he appeared, — would jump on his knee with all the 
familiarity of an old friend. 

" With his horses he had the same power of domes- 
tication. They yielded to the sound of his voice with the 



MAGIC INFLUENCE. 441 

instinct that seemed to convey to all that in hira they had 
found master and friend. 

" Over the natives that influence seemed almost magic. 
When at Umbala, on ten days' leave, in November last, 
the wounded and convalescent Guides (his old corps) 
were all day straying into the compound simply to ' sa- 
laam ' the ' Sahib.' And if, when lingering on the steps, 
or in front of the study door, they were questioned what 
they wanted, their answer would be, ' Nothing ; they 
liked to look at the Sahib.' And so they hung about his 
steps, and watched like so many faithful dogs. Espe- 
cially there was an Affghan boy, (he had once been a 
slave,) whose very soul seemed bound up in the master 
who had rescued him from his degraded position, and for 
whom every service seemed light. He would watch his 
master's movements with a look of very worship, as if the 
ground were not good enough for him to tread. 

" His joyousness of nature made him the most charm- 
ing companion. There was a certain quaintness of ex- 
pression which gave zest to all he said ; and yet there 
was a reverence, too, so that, were subjects graver than 
usual introduced even by allusion, they at once com- 
manded his earnest response." 

It will doubtless excite surprise, perchance in- 
dignation, that one whom the Commander-in- 
Chief pronounced " one of the most brilliant 
soldiers under his command," — one whom all 
ranks of the army in India reckoned amongst 
their bravest and most skilful leaders, — one 
whom the popular voice has already enrolled 
amongst the heroes of the nation, — one whose 
name was " known, either in love or fear, by 



442 - PROPOSED MONUMENT. 

every native from Calcutta to Cabul," — should 
have received, with the exception of a brevet 
majority (to which he was entitled for services in 
1849), no mark of his Sovereign's approbation, 
no recognition of gallant services and deeds of 
daring, one tenth part of which would have cov- 
ered many of Fortune's favorites with decora- 
tions. 

That recognition, however, which was officially 
withheld, has been given in a more marked form 
by the spontaneous expression of the feelings of 
his brothers-in-arms. A committee, composed of 
officers of the highest eminence, has been formed 
at Calcutta for the sake of recording, by some 
permanent memorial, their admiration of his gal- 
lantry and skill, and it has been determined that 
it should take the form of a monument in Lich- 
field Cathedral. 

Nor will his name be forgotten in India, even 
by men in office. The regiment which he raised 
still is " Hodson's Horse ; " and by an order, pub- 
lished in the Gazette of August 13th, is coiisti- 
tuted a brigade, consisting of the 1st, 2d, and 3d 
Regiments of " Hodson's Horse." 

I do not know that his warmest friends could 
desire any more distinguished testimony to his 
services. 



Since these remarks were written, my brother's 
services have received a still more public ac- 



SPEECH OF LORD STANLEY. 443 

knowledgment. On the occasion of the vote of 
thanks to the Indian Army, on 14th April, 1859, 
both Lord Derby in the Upper, and Lord Stanley 
in the Lower House, mentioned his name in the 
most honorable manner. 

Lord Stanley spoke as follows : — 

" And now, Sir, having paid the tribute that is due to 
those who Kve, it is not fitting that we should pass away 
entirely from this subject without recognizing the services 
of the dead. (Hear, hear.) Operations like those which 
have been carried on for the last eighteen months, could 
not be conducted without a great and lamentable loss of 
life, and their loss to the public service is not one which 
can be measured by any numerical test, because it is 
always the best and bravest officers who rush to the front, 
— who volunteer for every service of danger or difficulty, 
who expose themselves to every risk, and among whom, 
therefore, there is necessarily the greatest loss of life. 
There are two names which are especially distinguished. 
The first is that of Major Hodson, of the Guides, (hear, 
hear,) who in his short but brilliant military career dis- 
played every quality which an officer should possess. 
(Hear.) Nothing is more remarkable, in glancing over 
the biography of Major Hodson that has just appeared, 
than the variety of services in which he was engaged. 
At one time he displayed his great personal courage and 
skill as a swordsman in conflict with Sikh fanatics ; was 
then transferred to the civil service, in which he performed 
his duties as though he had passed his whole life at the 
desk, afterwards i*ecruiting and commanding the corps of 
Guides, and, lastly, taking part in the operations before 
Delhi, volunteering for every enterprise in which life 



44:4 SPEECH OF LORD STANLEY. 

could be hazarded or glory could be won. He crowded 
into the bi'ief space of eleven eventful years the services 
and adventures of a long life. He died when his reward 
was assured, obtaining only that reward which he most 
coveted, — the consciousness of duty done, and the assur- 
ance of enduring military renown. The other name to 
which I shall refer is a name which will always be re- 
ceived with feelings of special and individual interest by 
this House. No words of mine can add to the glory 
attaching to the short but noble career of Sir W. Peel. 
(Cheers.) . He bore a name which is inseparably con- 
nected with the Parliamentary history of this country, 
and it was with feelings of almost personal pride and 
of personal grief that a great number of the members of 
this House received the accounts of his glorious achieve- 
ments and of his untimely end. (Hear, hear.) For his 
own reputation he had lived long enough ; no future acts 
could have enhanced his fame. It is England, it is his 
country that deplores his loss." 

I have also much pleasure in stating that " in 
testimony of the high sense entertained of the 
gallant and distinguished services of the late 
Brevet-Major W. S. R. Hodson," the Secretary 
of State for India in Council has granted a spe- 
cial pension to his widow. 



THE END. 



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by TiCKNOR AND FlELDS. 5 

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Pocket Edition of Poetical Works. 2 vols. $1.50. 

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Margaret Smith's Journal. 75 cents. 

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6 A Li^ of Books Publifhed 
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With fine Plates. 75 cents. 
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Book. (In Press.) 

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Practical Sermons. 1 vol. 12.110. $1.25. 
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by TiCKNOR AND FlELDS. 7 

Rev. F. W. Robertson. 

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" Third " $1.00. 

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A Lia of Books Publiihed 



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Blue and Gold. 


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Plays. Armand and Fashio 


N. 


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Mimic Life. 1 vol. $1.25. 

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by TiCKNOR AND FlELDS. 11 

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by TiCKNOR AND FlELDS. 13 



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Motherwell's Poems. 1 vol. 75 cents. 



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